Shinigami no Nara
by Kangaimaru
Summary: When a bored Shinigami dropped his Death Note, a bored genius happened to pick it up. But when the Note is dropped again, a lazy genius picks it up. Naruto/Death Note cross.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer:_**I do not own Naruto or Death Note. If I did, Naruto's series name would probably have been changed to Sasuke by now. And Mello would not look like a girl.  
**

Note: Only one Death Note character appears in this story. Do not expect any others. Unless you count the Death Note itself as a character.

**Note2: From the point where Sasuke forms the team Hebi, consider this story AU. **Everything after that point is my own story, and, for the most part, breaks away from the canon. Whatever remains the same will be mentioned in the story, so don't worry.

_Note 3: You DO NOT have to read or watch Death Note to understand the story. Any elements from Death Note that are important in the story are explained and will be made clear so that the story may be understood. Nevertheless, if you have NOT watched or read Death Note, I would greatly recommend you do. It is an amazing series._

A/N: This is my third Naruto story. One was abandoned very quickly, and the other can't continue until I get some of this one out of my system. I'm not abandoning Loser Uchiha, I just can't seem to think about it. I'm hoping that writing a few chapters of this story might get this out of my system and inspire me to work on LU. Anyway, keep an eye out for Death Note references, mostly names of insignificant people or places. Otherwise, enjoy the prologue!

* * *

**Leaf Note - Prologue**

_A utopia, you said._

The marks were two years old now, etched across the top of the page.

_In the end you gave me six years of fun._

The note sat in his lap. Not a single name had been written in after him.

_But it looks like I'll have to find someone else this time, huh, Light?_

Ryuk gently put his Death Note back in its place, and looked out at the Shinigami Realm. Nothing here had changed during the eight years that had passed since he dropped his extra Death Note in the Human World. The other shinigami did nothing but gamble, and watch the humans as their world recovered from the Era of Kira.

Two long years of boredom had passed, and Ryuk could no longer take it. It was time to escape again. He had once again acquired a second Death Note, this time with some luck and a dead shinigami. However, this time, he had a different plan. He would not drop the Note in the Human World. Not that one, anyway.

No, this time he planned to drop it somewhere else.

No more than six months ago, a new portal had opened in the Shinigami Realm. No one had bothered to find out yet, but the Shinigami King had speculated that it may lead to some different dimension of the Human World.

Ever since that time, Ryuk had been itching to find out what was there. Only the Shinigami King himself had taken the time to gaze through the portal thus far, but Ryuk would be the first one to traverse to the other side of the portal.

_Well, how did I do it last time? Five days?_

He turned in the direction of the new portal, staring at it for some time.

_It's about time I had some fun again._

He chuckled, and stepped toward the portal. Nearby, a group of gambling shinigami saw him.

"Hey, Ryuk, you dropped your Death Note again?" One asked.

"Hah, he's probably off to become some human's pet again!" Said another.

"Who knows," he answered.

_Not that being a 'pet' was that bad a sacrifice for some amusement._

He held his second (or, technically, third) Death Note in his hand.

_After all, this world _is _rotten._

The peaceful winds of Konoha's forests were a welcome feeling, Shikamaru thought. After all, to a shinobi of the Leaf, the mountains of the Earth Country were anything but pleasant.

"Almost home," Kotetsu said behind him.

"Almost home," he repeated.

They had spent a good two weeks searching for Zetsu, the last remaining Akatsuke member, based on a lead they had received from a rather shady character. However, considering the level of danger and importance Zetsu held, both Konoha and Kusagakure were edgy and willing to take any chance they could to capture the S-class criminal.

Shikamaru blamed no one; he, too, wanted nothing more than to ensure that Zetsu was dead. He surely did not want to risk Akatsuke's return, even if Zetsu posed less of a threat as leader than Uchiha Madara had.

Despite that, they had spent a good four years searching for the half-plant-half-man, and yet not once had they succeeded in capturing him.

After a quick breather, the team moved out once more. Shikamaru was accompanied by Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo, and Namiashi Raido. By nightfall, he knew, they would arrive back in Konoha, and he would finally be able to rest comfortably.

For a moment, he stood where he was, vexed by the clouds that he had gazed upon for so many years. From where he stood, it seemed as if the sky behind those clouds was cracked. Shikamaru squinted, but it could not be helped. He was tired, and nothing more.

"Come on, Shikamaru," said Raido. "Let's get a move on."

"Yeah," He said.

From there, their journey was a simple walk through the woods. Once they passed the Matsui River, they knew they were a good half hour away from Konoha's magnificent Western Gate. If they put a little boost into their trek, they could probably make it there in half the time, Shikamaru thought. But as usual, he just lagged behind the others.

By the time they arrived at the Eastern Entrance, it was sunset, and Shikamaru was eager to finally get home. However, one obstacle still remained to the team.

As they strode past the security at the gate, Raido held out their mission report, written out on their way home.

"Well, someone has to get this to Hokage-sama," he said.

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at Shikamaru, who, despite not actually being the team leader, had been in charge most of the time.

He sighed.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it," he said. Raido handed off the scroll to him, and Shikamaru took his leave of the team.

The streets of Konoha were already becoming less crowded than they usually were. As he made his way down to the Hokage's office, he noticed several posters decorating the buildings, reminding him and the rest of the village of the coming festival.

_How troublesome… that means preparations. And then a clean-up. Not to mention, people will probably try to force me to go._

Not that it was strange for people to force a friend to go to a festival, but this festival celebrated the defeat of Akatsuke, which he had been involved in. It was the fourth year since that happened, and each year so far he had been forced to partake in the festivities. He already knew what it would be like. Telling stories, drinking, being honored in front of the whole village, and plenty of other things Shikamaru honestly did not want to bother with.

Sure, none of the others who had been involved had a problem with it. Kiba especially delighted in retelling the story of how he and Shino had taken down Hoshigaki Kisame, although each year the story seemed to end differently. Naruto was still enjoying the respect he had garnered from taking down the Akatsuke Leader, Pein, which had, for the most part, changed the village's attitude towards him. Hinata, shy as she was, received her due credit every year for her defeat of Konan. It had been Shikamaru who had brought down Deidara with the help of Sasuke's associate, Juugo. As for Sasuke himself, he had completed his goal of killing his brother, but at an enormous cost.

Only Zetsu had escaped. That was why, to this day, Konoha continued to hunt him. Somehow, though, he seemed to avoid all capture.

Nevertheless, anyone who had helped in the defeat of Akatsuke, or brought about the death of one of its members (old and new alike) was honored at this festival. It was named the Shirotsuke Matsuri, the Festival of White Dawn, to commemorate Akatsuke's goals being thwarted and the world being rid of a dangerous threat. The Hidden Sand celebrated it too, and last year the Grass and the Waterfall began to celebrate as well. Tsunade's hope was that it would eventually become a world-wide holiday, and that that would hopefully rid the world of remaining Akatsuke supporters, if there were any.

When Shikamaru finally arrived at Tsunade's office, he sighed before walking in. Throughout the past four years, the Godaime Hokage seemed to have been mistaking Shikamaru for one of her advisors. True, he did not mind having some political power within Konoha. That would probably be a good asset one day. But having Tsunade ask for his opinion on some matter nearly every time she saw him was just plain troublesome.

He entered the building, and found himself in a rather crowded lobby. Because the Shirotsuke Matsuri was in a few days, many shinobi were returning now from missions so they would be back and rested in time for the festival. Shikamaru wondered how long it would take to get to Tsunade with all these others handing in their own mission reports.

"Shikamaru!"

He turned around to see Sakura coming towards him.

"Tsunade-sama has been waiting for you," she said.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Why just me?" He asked. "Doesn't she have some work to do?" He gestured to all the other people in the room.

"Well, the fact is Tsunade-sama is being a little lazy this evening. She told me she just wanted to get your report on Zetsu and be done for the day. She's left other assistants to collect all these other reports for her to get to tomorrow."

Shikamaru had the urge to ask why their Hokage was being so lazy, especially right before a holiday, but he figured he of all people did not have the right to say such a thing. Instead, he let Sakura lead him up to Tsunade's office, where she left him, most likely to take care of some of the Godaime's work.

When he entered the room, Tsunade was behind her desk, reading something. The desk itself was cluttered with stacks of paper, most likely reports, letters, and festival business. The Hokage herself did not raise her head from what she was reading, so Shikamaru simply took a seat across from her desk, waiting.

"My, my, being Hokage is a lot of work," she finally said.

"Isn't that part of the job description?" He asked.

Tsunade looked up from the paper she was reading. Her expression confused him; he couldn't be sure if she was annoyed or amused.

"I suppose it is," she said. "Well, we're both tired here. How did it go?"

Shikamaru sighed before he began, mostly to tell her quickly it was a complete failure. "To put it simply, that lead was useless. Your informant said they heard rumors of a plantman running around in the Raifunkakou Mountains (Lightning Crater Mountains) in the Earth Country, but if Zetsu was ever there, it was a good long time ago. We found a few traces of shinobi equipment, but it most likely came from the Hidden Stone village's shinobi. Also, I doubt Zetsu carries any equipment with him anyway."

"In other words, nothing?"

"Yes. The mission was a complete waste."

"I see. Speaking of the Earth Country, did you have any trouble getting in there?"

"Not at first," he said. "The border patrol wasn't a problem. It was afterwards that we ran into some trouble."

"Did you fight?" Tsunade asked before he could continue.

"No. But we almost did. When we entered the mountains, a squad of Iwa shinobi tried to stop us. They said at first that the mountains were off-limits to foreign shinobi, and tried to bring us back to Iwagakure with them to get permission. It took some diplomacy, but I eventually got them to let us in. They told us if we weren't out of the mountains in three days, they would send someone in to bring us out."

"That's definitely suspicious. Did you see anything?"

"I thought maybe they were doing something in there that they didn't want us to know about. But the biggest worries are impossible. If they were trying to amass troops in some way, we would have seen it, and there would be no way that they would let us in if they were. If there was some weapon hidden in the mountains, they would have at least sent an escort with us. In any case, we didn't see anything. I wouldn't worry too much about it."

"Either way, something's going on," said Tsunade. "I'd like to know about it before anything bad happens. And to think, I assumed all my worries would be over once Akatsuke was gone."

"Technically, Akatsuke isn't completely gone until Zetsu is caught."

"I suppose so. In the meantime, we have to do something about this Earth conspiracy, whatever it is. I could send a team of ANBU to investigate."

"If you did, you would have to pick someone who you can be sure won't be caught. If Iwagakure caught our shinobi in their territory without permission…"

"I know. It could possibly mean war, and Konoha can't afford that. But I already have in mind a team that should be able to get the job done. I'll try to get some more information before I do anything. If we find any reasonable purpose to investigating those mountains, then we'll go in."

"That sounds good."

A moment of silence passed between the two.

"Is there anything else you need of me?" Shikamaru asked.

"Just one. And it's a happier thought than this conspiracy you're telling me about. Will you be attending the Shirotsuke Festival? I need to know who's willing to be on duty during that time. Most people refuse, and I don't feel like forcing anyone to do anything."

_Damn woman,_ he thought. _You just want me to go, don't you? You know I wasn't planning on going, but you also know I'd prefer going to doing any work._

In the corner of his eye, he saw a smile slip across her bored and tired expression.

_You troublesome woman._

"Yeah, I'll be going. Ino's forcing me, so it's not like I have any choice." He lied.

"I see. If that's the case, then you're dismissed."

"Thank you," he said. He got up and bowed, then left the office and made his way home.

A few days later, Shikamaru found himself awake early the morning before the festival. The entire event lasted three days, but the main celebration (which, consequently, was the part most people cared about) was that evening. The second day was more a memorial day, to remember all the people who had given their lives in the fight against Akatsuke.

Most of Shikamaru's morning was dull and meaningless, as he chose to see it. Ino had forced him up early to help with the preparations for the festival. Being the lazy shit he was, Shikamaru made it a point to take a long time with every task Ino gave him, hoping that somehow that would convince her never to ask him to help her with anything ever again.

Aside from the work, however, it wasn't so bad. For the first time in a long while, Shikamaru had the chance to hang out with his old friends. They were all the same rank as him, if not higher, so having a mission with at least one of them wasn't uncommon, but missions weren't a time or place for hanging out or bonding.

When all the work was done, Sakura offered to treat everyone to some lunch. Shikamaru went along, having worked himself to an empty to stomach (perhaps a better phrase would have been that he complained to an empty stomach).

Evidently, he was the first to leave. The rest of the group intended to get a little more work done, but Shikamaru had other plans. At his own lazy pace, he made his way down to the prison. When he arrived, he found Ibiki just about to leave.

The interrogator looked up at him, his eyes looking somewhat interested. "Any luck with that damn plant?" He asked.

"No, nothing," he said. "It was a bad lead."

Ibiki nodded. "If that's the case, then what brings you hear? That same old prisoner you keep visiting?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"Shibuimaru Takuo…" said Ibiki. "He won't be going anywhere any time soon. Not unless he talks, though it doesn't seem like he'll be doing that anytime soon.

Shikamaru shrugged, and Ibiki took his leave. Shibuimaru Takuo was a missing-nin from another Hidden Village, who had tried to assassinate a village elder but failed. He had made the mistake of roaming into Konoha territory, where he was captured and imprisoned. Kirigakure, the man's home village, asked for his body, but Konoha had refused. It was obvious what would happen to him should they give him up to the Hidden Mist.

According to Takuo's story, he had had good reason to attempt to kill the elder, but the Mizukage refused to believe the story. For that reason, Konoha refused them the prisoner, but for diplomatic purposes, had to keep him imprisoned. If they let him escape or killed him, then they would possibly have a problem with Kirigakure, and they did not want to risk angering another village. An irritation was one thing, but going completely against their wishes could lead to hostility.

Shikamaru checked in and verified that Shibuimaru was still in the same cell he had been confined to during his previous visit, and then was escorted down to the prisoner chamber.

From the looks of it, Takuo was in no better condition than before. Shikamaru could tell he did not receive enough food. The man had gotten very skinny over the past few months, and his sunken eyes showed that he did not receive much kindness either. Overall, he looked all too ready to die.

When his attendant left, Shikamaru took a seat in front of the cell. Takuo's eyes wandered a little, until they finally settled on Shikamaru. A moment passed before he finally spoke.

"That you, Shikamaru?"

"Yeah," he answered.

Takuo remained silent again.

"How are you doing, Shibuimaru?" Shikamaru asked. He did not want to be on a first term basis with this man while ANBU were near. He didn't want any false suspicion surrounding him.

Once again, Takuo took a while to speak.

"I'm tired," he said. "Tired of this. I just…just wanna go."

Shikamaru knew full well what he meant by 'go'.

"Last time I was here, you told me about your shuriken bomb, Shibuimaru. But what about that heat-sensitive explosion tag you mentioned?"

The truth was, Shibuimaru Takuo had invented a great deal of original shinobi weaponry. One of the reasons Shikamaru kept visiting was that he wanted to hear more about all of these things. It was pretty interesting.

A smile came to Takuo's face, something Shikamaru hardly ever saw him do these days.

"Shikamaru…" he said. "I don't want your pity. Or your help. There's only one thing I want right now. If you can't give it to me, then please…don't trouble yourself coming here anymore. You have a life. That's something I have no hope of having anymore."

"But…"

"Don't say it. Shikamaru. Either put me out of my misery, or go."

Shikamaru nodded. It seemed after months of imprisonment, Takuo had cracked. He could no longer take it. And who could blame him?

_Troublesome politics… this isn't even the worst of what they cause. Why can't things be simple?_

"See you, Takuo," he said as he left.

Takuo closed his eyes. "Hopefully in another place, yeah. A better place…"

Sunlight was a welcome feeling when Shikamaru left the prison. To be honest, he was feeling a little depressed. He liked Takuo; he was an interesting man. Shikamaru just wished he could do something for the man. There was no hope for him living, but at least to put him out of his misery…

The honest truth was, though, if they killed him in any way, Kirigakure would know. Which meant there was nothing they could do but keep him alive, but miserable.

As he walked his usual path home, Shikamaru kept thinking about Takuo's situation, searching for some loophole that would allow the man to live. In his heart, however, he knew there was nothing he could do.

Deep in thought, Shikamaru almost didn't notice as Neji approached him.

"Shikamaru," the Hyuga said, "mind doing me a favor?"

"Depends what," Shikamaru replied. "What do you need?"

"Take this medkit to Lee? He needs a new kit, but refused to buy one. But I need to get back to the Hyuga Grounds for something important."

"And you chose me, the lazy guy…why?" It was something Shikamaru just had to ask.

"You were the first trustworthy person I saw. And doing something for another person would do you some good, too. Just go, will you?"

"Yeah, whatever," he said, taking the medical box. It seemed he was doing people a lot of favors these days.

"Lee's at the Academy. He shouldn't be hard to find."

Shikamaru mentally chuckled at the thought of Lee being hard to find. You would have to have a whole crowd of green spandex-wearing bowl-cuts, and that… that was just a scary dream.

"Wait, Neji," he said, as the Hyuga was leaving. "Why is Lee at the Academy? He couldn't be…"

"He's planning to. And if you're smart, you won't try to fix anything he does to them. Things always turn out worse when you do."

Neji left, and Shikamaru remained where he was, trying to imagine Lee as…

A teacher.

Not just any teacher. A leader of a Genin squad.

No.

He had to get that image out. And quick.

As he walked down to the Ninja Academy, Shikamaru did his best to keep his mind off the idea of three twelve-year-olds in spandex with bowl cuts calling Lee sensei. It was a quick walk, luckily, since he just wanted to go home, and didn't keep his usual lazy pace.

At any rate, when he reached the school, he quickly found Lee standing outside a classroom of near-graduates. Iruka was inside teaching, while Lee watched through a window.

The spandex-wearing Jounin noticed Shikamaru immediately, and turned to great him. Enthusiastically. Very enthusiastically.

"Shikamaru-kun! Have you come to see the Flames of Youth educate our future warriors as well?!"

"Nope. Just here to give you something from Neji." He said.

"Neji sent something to me?"

"Yeah, it's a medkit. He said you need a new one."

"Nonesense! Bandages are all I need, I must learn from my wounds!" He cried.

"Say, Lee, are you really planning on teaching some of these kids? You're still pretty young to be taking on a Genin team…"

"What do you mean, Shikamaru-kun? It is never too soon to show these children how to be a great shinobi! How can you not feel the same way?"

"You know what? Nevermind. Just take the kit, will you?"

Lee grabbed the medkit, seemingly with hesitation. For some reason, Shikamaru didn't feel like leaving just yet.

"So, Lee. What are they like?" He asked. "Any good?"

"Ah, yes," replied Lee. "There are some of very youthful fellows among this class, although I fear that some may do well with some extra fire in their spirits."

"Anyone promising? A prodigy, maybe?" Konoha seemed to have had a lot of those.

"What are you talking about, Shikamaru-kun? In my eyes they are ALL geniuses! Each in their own way. You know very well that being a "genius" does not mean anything at all."

_Yeah, Lee sort of proves that himself._

Shikamaru gazed into the classroom. There wasn't much to see. It was the day of the festival, and most of these kids were just anxious to get out.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru saw something fly by the window. It looked like some sort of notebook.

He found himself surprisingly intrigued, and said goodbye to Lee as he left. The other Jounin called something after him, but Shikamaru paid no attention to it.

When he exited the building, Shikamaru found himself wondering whether he, one day, might chose to teach a team of Genin.

However, his thoughts were interrupted when he stepped on something crunchy, and somewhat disgusting. He moved his foot over and found what looked like an incredibly rotten apple. In fact, it was so thin, it almost looked like a pear.

He picked up the rotten thing and turned to throw it in the garbage can near the door.

Then he found it.

Not five feet away from the garbage can was the black notebook he had seen fall past the window.

Shikamaru stepped over to it and bent down to look at it. It looked harmless, yet there was still some strange vibe coming from it.

He looked up, wondering if it had come from the roof, or just one of the top floors? It was obvious some student had thrown it, probably as some sort of prank or joke, or merely out of frustration.

He sighed, deciding he should probably go give it to one of the teachers, and picked it up. Looking closer he saw there was something written across the cover.

Two words.

_Death…Note?_

* * *

Next Chapter: _Rebirth_

Should be out in the next 48 hours. I'm on spring break.

* * *


	2. Rebirth

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Death Note. I do, however, own the original characters in this fic.

ArmorOfGeddon: Glad you're interested, and you'll in a couple chapters how much Shikamaru actually can't do with the Death Note due to politics. Anyway, from what you're expecting, I can see I've got an original plot in mind that should hopefully keep you interested.

Thanks for the reviews! Anyway, it's a little later than I said, but here's the first real chapter. Keep an eye out for more Death Note references. Also, I've always been a fan of writing from the point of view of less popular characters. So as you'll see in this chapter, Shikamaru isn't the only POV character. And he's definitely not the only one the story focuses on.

* * *

**Leaf Note**

_**Chapter I – Rebirth**_

It was a simple, black notebook, maybe a little bigger than the ones the Academy students carried around.

_So it's a… Notebook of Death?_

Shikamaru studied it carefully. There was nothing suspicious about it, save the title.

Slowly, he opened the front cover. On the other side of the cover was writing.

_How to Use…_

He looked down to read the first rule.

_The human who's name is written in this notebook will surely die._

Shikamaru inwardly chuckled.

_Really? This must be some poor joke. Who would believe that you can actually kill just by writing someone's name down on a piece of paper?_

He was still somewhat intrigued, but evidence told him it couldn't possibly be real.

_The first page is blank. That means no one's used it, probably. That makes it obvious._

He looked up towards where the book had fallen from.

_Some academy student wrote this as a prank, and threw it out of the building so a random person will find it. That's all it is._

Yet for some reason, he couldn't seem to drop it.

_But if this thing is real…No, what am I thinking? All rationality points to this simply being a prank._

He stood there for what seemed a lot longer than it really was.

_There really must be something wrong with me…_

And he walked off, Death Note in hand.

"How To Use," he read out loud.

"The human who's name is written in this notebook will surely die. The note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in mind. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected."

_If that's the idea of an academy student, then it must be someone smart. Most kids would probably overlook that factor…_

Already in his mind Shikamaru was thinking of ways to pinpoint what student had written this notebook.

"If the cause of death is written within forty seconds, then it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the victim will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details should be written in within the next six minutes and forty seconds."

_So in other words, you can kill your victim in any way you wish. You can make it look like murder, or disease, or an accident, and keep yourself away from suspicion… So if this thing is real, it would be impossible to prove that the user killed their victim._

He read over the rules a few more times before actually considering anything.

_But if I really did do it, how would I test it out? It'd have to be someone near here, so I could see the results immediately. And it would have to be someone who's death wouldn't be kept secret…Not to mention, if it really works, I'd have to kill someone who I don't mind dying…_

It was all so complicated.

_How troublesome… But then, why am I bothering with this? It's definitely a prank…_

He threw the Death Note down on his bed, and stood. Sighing, he made his way towards the door. He twisted the door knob, when suddenly, he was struck with an idea.

_I could test it _that _way…_

--

The sun was bright still, and it would be hours before the Shirotsuke Matsuri would officially begin. To pass the time, Inuzuka Kiba had decided to do some work.

That's why he and his teammate, Aburame Shino were currently on their way to the Square where the annual festival ceremony was held.

"Hey, Shino," he said, "who did you say is already there working?"

"Before, it was Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Chouji. But my bugs say that Naruto and Sakura have joined them now, although Shikamaru left."

"Ah, cool."

There was a well-used-to silence as the two made their way towards the square, Shino walking and Kiba riding on Akamaru's back. Kiba was used to these uncomfortable silences; four years with Shino as his teammate as well as three more as his most common companion made that happen. In fact, despite his outside personality, by now Kiba had become accustomed to it and actually liked the silence somewhat.

By the time they arrived at the square, it seemed a great deal of work had been done since they had last seen the square, a few days before. A stage had been set up, where Tsunade and other village higher-ups would speak, as they had the previous three years. There were no seats, as there would be far too many villagers to fit in this small area, but outside of the square itself shops had been set up all over the place. Kiba could hardly believe that all of this had been done in just a couple days.

As Shino had said, Ino, Hinata, Chouji, Naruto, and Sakura were all there. Plenty of other helping hands were present as well, but no one who Kiba really cared to see.

"Yo!" He called out to his friends as they arrived.

Everyone seemingly turned to greet them, but Ino was first.

"It's about damn time!" She yelled. Kiba jerked back, just a little. Only Shino had seen that tiny cringe of fear (he hoped so, anyway).

"We've been working for hours since this morning! What took you guys so long?"

"Hey, sorry," he began, "we were busy all right? We had to write up a report for our last mission. We just got back two days ago!"

Kiba was sure Ino would comment on how long it could possibly take to write up a report, but thankfully they were interrupted.

"Hey, quit the arguing and just give us a hand, will you?" Naruto yelled.

_Is there anyone here in a good mood?_ Kiba thought to himself.

He strode over to where Naruto was working, along with Sakura.

"Hey, trying to make sure the idiot doesn't screw something up?" He asked her.

Naruto gave him an annoyed look, but Sakura just said, "Yeah, pretty much."

Instead of letting her share the angry stare Kiba had received, Naruto simply looked down in shame. It was true that he had become a great deal smarter over the years, but no one wanted to admit it. Annoying him about it was just too much fun.

Looking over his shoulder, Kiba saw that Ino had already assigned Shino a job to do, and was back to doing her own work.

"So," he asked, "what should I be doing?"

Sakura thought for a moment before answering.

"You know what, I think you can probably help Naruto with what he's doing. Our job altogether is to put up signs for all the stands. We had vendors book stands here ahead of time, and signs have to be put up for each individual vendor. The signs are made, but we still have to put them up.

"Sounds easy enough."

"Good, then get to work. I've got to go back to the Hokage's office and make sure everything else for tonight is ready, and nothing is being delayed."

Kiba nodded, and watched as Naruto finished putting up a sign, the way Kiba had seen Sakura show him.

"How hard can—" he started to say, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Hey, some people have trouble fighting, some people have trouble keeping organized. Well some people have trouble putting up signs too, okay?"

Chuckling, Kiba said, "All right. Now, let me give you a hand. That sign looks like its about to fall off."

"I don't see how…"

"Naruto, there's nothing attaching one of the legs of the board to the stand…"

"…Oh."

For the next couple hours, Kiba helped Naruto finish off his area of work, which, surprisingly, took a long time to do. Kiba vaguely wondered to himself how slowly Naruto was working _before_ he had come.

Sakura had returned after about an hour, at which point the work pace seemed to speed up. With Ino and Sakura in charge together, everyone else seemed to want to finish their work and not cause a problem.

A few hours after Kiba and Shino had arrived, the square was almost complete. Working in a corner with Naruto on their last stand, Kiba wiped the sweat from his forehead as Akamaru brought over a pile of wood.

"I don't think we even need that much," he said.

"I don't think we need it at all," said Naruto. "Take a look."

Kiba hadn't been paying attention to Naruto's work the last few minutes, so he turned his head to see what Naruto probably mistook for good work. He was surprised to see that he had done a rather good job attaching the sign he had been working on to the board Kiba had added to the stand.

"Hey, Naruto, I just thought of something."

"Huh? What?"

"If you had used your kage bunshin, we could have finished all of this in about ten minutes."

"You're not the first to think of that. I tried it a few days ago, and then all the other workers yelled at me for taking up too much space and making too much noise. 'One Naruto is enough', hmph!"

Kiba laughed and stood, assuming their job was now complete. Looking over at the others, it seemed that their work was done as well. Kiba, followed by Naruto, went over to see if they really were done.

"So is that it?" He asked.

"Just about," said Ino.

"We only have a few more things to deal with, but I can handle it. You guys are done, and thanks for the help." Said Sakura.

"No problem," Kiba replied, "but honestly, we did less work than all the rest of you. It's only right that we do a little work."

_Plus, it's not like we weren't threatened into it._

Akamaru barked, having seemingly read his thought.

There was a moment of silence, before Naruto finally said, "Hey, can you guys really believe it's been four years already? I mean, the Akatsuke were a powerful enemy, but to think we actually took them down… And that life is still going on just fine."

"Tell me about it. It seemed like all that fighting with them was just some story, and everything would end afterwards like in a book." Said Sakura.

"But in the end, we beat them," said Kiba. "I still remember the finishing blow I laid on Kisame. It was a Gatsuuga Sakuganki (1). Akamaru and I drilled right through the bastard. We knocked him out for good!"

"Don't forget, Kiba", said Shino. "My bugs were draining his chakra throughout the entire battle, and it was they who kept him from escaping your Gatsuuga."

"Yeah, well, there was also when our Chakra Slash broke his sword, Samehada!"

"After my bugs ate at it and prevented it from absorbing chakra, as it is supposed to, thus leaving it useless and breakable."

"Well there was still the first concrete hit we landed on him! Akamaru blinded him with a dynamic marking, and I tackled him down with a Gatsuuga!"

"Kiba, did you forget? You hit a water clone. I caught onto his location after the clone broke apart and cornered him."

Everyone else was laughing, and Kiba was starting to get annoyed.

"Oh, well, whatever! Forget it, I'm going to get a drink before the festival starts! Anyone coming with me?"

"Sure, I'll come," said Ino.

"Me too!" Cried Naruto.

"Oh, no you're not, Naruto. I need a hand taking care of these last minute issues I mentioned."

"But… I thought you said you could handle it yourself?"

"Well, I meant that _we_ could. Now, come."

"Aww, come on…"

As Naruto was dragged off by Sakura, Kiba bid Shino and Chouji goodbye, and he and Ino walked off in the direction of the nearest pub.

"So, Kiba," she said, "I heard you're planning to participate in the next Jounin Exam?"

"Yeah, Shino and I figured we're ready by now. I mean, we may have outnumbered Kisame, but he was no pushover. And that was four years ago, too. Problem is, we want a third person to do it with us. Hinata says she isn't ready for it yet. Neji, Lee, and Naruto are already Jounin, Tenten's busy working in the ANBU, and Shikamaru is too lazy to bother. Hey, I don't suppose you wanna take the Exam, do you, Ino?"

"Nope. Chouji, Sakura, and I are gonna wait a while still. We figured since we took the Chunin Exams together (2), we may as well take the Jounin Exam together too. That's the same reason you and Shino are looking for a third person, too, right?"

"Pretty much."

"Anyway, what about Sasuke? I'm sure he wants to become a Jounin already."

"Nah, I already asked him. In the condition he's in, he doesn't want to do it. And I don't blame him. The way he ended up after his fight with his brother… that was a huge sacrifice. And it made him a hell of a lot weaker, too."

"True, but Sasuke's still an amazing shinobi, despite that condition!"

"Yeah, I know. But then again, so are we!"

"Don't get too full of it, Kiba."

"Hey, you're inflating Sasuke's ego _for_ the guy!"

"So what?"

"Oh, forget it. By the way, you were with Shikamaru this morning, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Did he happen to mention how the plant-hunt went?"

"No luck. He said it was a bad lead, and they ended up searching for nothing."

For a moment, Kiba said nothing. Then, "It's weird, isn't it? How Zetsu keeps getting away. He's the last living Akatsuke member, but for some reason, he just won't die. I can tell I'm not the only one feeling as if Akatsuke will remain a threat until Zetsu's gone."

"Yeah, I feel that too. Although, you've gotta wonder, what's Zetsu gonna do all on his own? He was Akatsuke's _scout_, and not even one of the stronger members. Beating him is a walk in the park compared to Pein and the Uchihas."

"I guess. But you never know. Akatsuke had a lot of spies. If he somehow rallies them together…"

"That's the whole point of this festival, though. If it spreads across the world, and all nine shinobi villages oppose a return of Akatsuke, there's no way anyone in their right mind would support Zetsu. He's just a lost spy, trying to stay alive. All we have to do is find him."

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

The two of them turned a corner and finally found a good, clean, pub. They went in and ordered themselves a couple drinks, and continued talking to each other for a while. Eventually, Ino had to leave, and Kiba found himself all by himself. A group of girls passed by, and Kiba decided it was time to retell the story of the Dog, the Bug, and the Fish.

--

Dusk had come, and the festival was about to begin. The opening ceremony that they had held every year thus far would soon commence, and then the festivities would begin.

Meanwhile, Hasaki Tenten was stuck on duty.

True, becoming an ANBU was part of her dream to become one of the most powerful kunoichi ever, just like Tsunade-sama, but at a time like this, she actually wished she was not part of the Hokage's personal agents. Nevertheless, she would do her job, and she would do her job well.

That's what she kept telling herself, anyway. Being an ANBU meant making sacrifices, and if missing the first night of the festival was a sacrifice she had to make for her job, she would make it. After all, only the elite were chosen to become ANBU, and she had to be grateful that she had been considered among the elite.

Still, she had been lucky enough to be placed on duty at the square. On a night like tonight, an unlucky ANBU would be out on a mission, unlike the rest of the village's shinobi. But few actually were forced to work, so Tenten's job was merely to keep security throughout the night. And luckily, her post was at the village square. A personal favor from the Hokage herself, Tenten was sure of it!

She watched from a rooftop as the commencement ceremony began. Tsunade-sama, in all her glory, walked up to the stage, and addressed a great majority of the village.

"Villagers of Konohagakure!" She cried. "Tonight we celebrate the defeat of an enemy that was, without a doubt, the greatest threat this world has ever known! Four years ago, at this time, Akatsuke was thwarted by the will and power of our own shinobi! Tonight, we honor those who fought bravely to stop those villains, those who died to stop them, and even those who were involved in their defeat without our knowledge!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd. A few fires erupted as well, from cheery shinobi, but Tenten was wise enough to see it was under control.

"However!" Tsunade yelled, silencing everyone. "Allow me to remind you of who Akatsuke was! There is no point in celebrating the defeat of an enemy, if we do not remember why they were an enemy to begin with! Akatsuke's goals were among the foulest anyone could ever think of; their plans could only bring destruction to the world! As you all well know, and hopefully shall remind your children in years to come, Akatsuke tried to capture and use the power of the nine Biju, the nine Tailed Beasts! One beast alone nearly destroyed our village, but thanks to two men, it was stopped. However, should Akatsuke have succeeded, they would have wielded, or perhaps under some circumstance lost control of these powerful demons, and all hope for the world would have been lost."

"As with the past years, I would like to honor those who were directly involved in the defeat of Akatsuke. After all, credit must be given where credit is due. First of all, I would like to honor my assistant, Haruno Sakura, who, with the assistance of Chiyo of the Sand, defeated Akasuna no Sasori, or Sasori of the Red Sand. He was the first Akatsuke member to fall, and his death was a hope to us that we could stop Akatsuke."

The crowd cheered for Sakura. Unlike the past few years, Tenten mused, Sakura wasn't brought up to the stage. Perhaps this year Tsunade-sama had decided that honoring the same people year after year was already becoming meaningless. At a certain point, all it could do was boost those people's egos.

"Second, I would like to honor Nara Shikamaru, and a certain man named Juugo for the defeat of the Akatsuke member Deidara. Of all the Akatsuke members, Deidara was our most frequent enemy. He kidnapped the Kazekage of the Sand, and attempted to kill eight of our shinobi when they tracked him down."

The crowd cheered for Shikamaru now, too. Although, Tenten noted, he was nowhere to be found. No surprise, however. The lazy chunin never seemed to enjoy this ceremony before. If he wasn't present this year, it meant nothing. She didn't doubt, however, he would be present the next day. He never missed a chance to pay respects to those who died fighting Akatsuke, especially Asuma.

"Next, I would like to honor Hyuga Hinata, for single-handedly defeating Konan, who was among Akatsuke's elite. She, alone, was considered a partner for Akatsuke's leader himself."

The crowd cheered a third time, and Tenten pinpointed Hinata, who was blushing. She was with most of her friends; that is, the Rookie Nine. Hinata, Naruto, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Ino, and Chouji were all standing in a group. Neji was off with some of the Hyuga branch house members, and Lee was by Gai, who was standing with several other former Jounin sensei.

"Now, I would like to remind you that the next person did betray us once. But he has so far amended for his defection, and deserves our thanks and respects for his part in defeating Akatsuke. The person I speak of is Uchiha Sasuke, who alone defeated Orochimaru, Konoha's long time enemy and a traitor himself, as well as Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, who killed off his entire clan and was one of Akatsuke's most powerful."

Not so many cheers came for Sasuke as there had been for all the others. Tenten understood why. The village had treated Sasuke like a prince; he was a genius, an heir to a powerful yet extinct clan, and everyone thought he would become one of Konoha's best shinobi ever. And yet despite all that Sasuke betrayed the village and went to Orochimaru, its greatest enemy, in search of power. As Tsunade had said, he definitely amended for all that already, but forgiveness did not come easily. At least there were some cheers at all, Tenten thought, although they mostly came from his friends.

"Next, I wish to honor the teamwork of Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba (a bark came from Kiba's dog, Akamaru, who clearly believed he should be honored as well), who defeated Hoshigaki Kisame. Kisame was one of the Mist's Seven Legendary Swordsman, and gave off the impression that he possessed a Biju himself."

The crowd gave another warm cheer for the two, and Tsunade moved on to the last person.

"Finally, I would like to give a great honor to the person who defeated not only Kakuzu, who was Akatsuke's oldest member, and fought against my grandfather, the Shodai Hokage, but this person also defeated Akatsuke's leader, Pein. I would like to honor Uzumaki Naruto for defeating a man who threatened the entire world's existence, and protecting this very village from destruction by Akatsuke."

Over the years, things had changed in regards to how the villagers treated Naruto. That was why he received just as big a cheer as everyone else. Although some still harbored hatred for him, most had warmed up to him, as he had basically saved the village from complete annihilation. Tenten still had no idea what it was that caused the villagers' hatred in the first place, but she knew at least that that hatred was dying down (3).

As Naruto's cheers died down, Tsunade completed her speech.

"The aforementioned people are not the only one's responsible for Akatsuke's defeat. I would still like to mention the late Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin, for his information gathering and work towards stopping Akatsuke and spreading word of their plans to the other nations."

"Now, many others deserve honors and thanks as well, but unfortunately, there are far too many. I fear if I stayed up hear to honor them all, we could all be here for hours more. Tomorrow is the mourning day, and we shall give our thanks to all those who died to stop Akatsuke. But for tonight, please enjoy yourselves with the festival."

With that, Tsunade left the stage, and the festival began. Over the next few hours, music played, people ate, they drank, they danced. Tenten tried to look for chances to sneak down and have a chat with one of her friends, but unfortunately, no such chance existed.

"Aikuchi!" She heard suddenly. Tenten spun to see a fellow ANBU approaching her.

"There was a breakout at the prison. Come!"

"Hai, sempai!"

The other ANBU jumped off in the direction of the prison, with Tenten following closely behind.

_A breakout? On a night like this? What are the chances? Although, I suppose now would be a good time to do it. There's not too much security at the prison since everyone is celebrating…_

"Aikuchi!" The other ANBU yelled. "Go around by the Ninja Academy! We'll chase him in that direction! Meet with other agents and capture him there!"

"Hai!" She yelled, and they split up.

Tenten ran at full speed towards the Academy to make sure she beat the prisoner there. On her way, she saw the festival had spread across to the rest of the village. Restaurants were open, stands lined the streets, and there was music and lights everywhere. In a crowd like this, it couldn't be too hard for a prisoner to blend in and disguise himself. Especially if they were in good enough condition to cast Ninjutsu.

When she arrived at the Academy, she found two other ANBU already there. They nodded as she landed by them.

"Sempai, do we have a plan?" She asked one of them, Aihara.

"Yes. Genwaku will wait until the prisoner reaches past him. You will attack once the prisoner is approximate fifty feet passed him. Then I will run in for the capture along with Genwaku. We'll have reinforcements to ensure we catch him."

"Hai," she said, and took her place, waiting for the prisoner to arrive.

It took longer than she had anticipated. In fact, Tenten was beginning to wonder if the other ANBU had been successful in chasing the prisoner in this direction when he finally showed up.

He was running, and quickly at that. In no time, he was passed Genwaku, and Tenten prepared to make her move.

_Twenty more feet…ten feet…ready, and…GO!_

She jumped out from her hiding place and immediately shot a barrage of kunai at the prisoner. The prisoner got out of the way just in time, and Tenten pulled them back with chakra strings to keep him from stealing one. Immediately, she charged at him with a bo staff. The prisoner backed away and evaded a slash, as Genwaku ran up behind him and prepared to cast a ninjutsu. From above came Aihara, katana in hand.

Panicked, the prisoner grabbed her staff and wrestled with her for control. He managed to push her back, and tried to trip her, but Tenten merely jumped over his leg. The prisoner used this chance to push her farther, and he let go of the staff. He quickly jumped away, and began running once more.

Tenten cursed, and her commander ran passed, telling her to try to go around and intercept the prisoner again.

Tenten jumped back atop a roof and decided to go after the prisoner stealthily this time, to ensure he did not have a chance to overpower her again. She and her teammates followed him down the streets and around a few corners until she saw the perfect place to ambush him.

A clock-tower was up ahead, and Tenten was catching up quickly enough to reach the clock-tower and intercept the prisoner.

Suddenly, however, as if the prisoner knew her plan, he put on a burst of speed. Tenten cursed realizing she would not catch up with him in time, and jumped down into the streets, hoping she could catch him with a kunai.

The man was about to reach the clock-tower when Tenten saw a familiar face standing by it.

"Shikamaru! Stop him!" She yelled.

Shikamaru turned in confusion, quickly spotting Tenten and recognizing her voice and seeing the fleeing prisoner coming in his direction. He grabbed a kunai and launched it at the prisoner, but missed. The kunai hit a wall and fell, and Tenten cursed as the prisoner picked it up.

The man turned to see her catching up. Before she could do anything, she saw him hold up the knife.

"It worked! It's real!" She thought she heard him yell, and the man stabbed himself in the chest.

_Dammit!_

She stopped to find the man already forming a pool of blood. Staring at his face, she thought he looked almost…happy.

She sighed, and knelt down to check his pulse and make sure he was already dead. Shikamaru hastily ran over.

"Is he dead?" He asked

Feeling no pulse, Tenten replied, "Yeah, he is."

"What happened?"

"He's a prisoner. He broke out, and we chased him all the way here. He put up a good fight, too. Three of us tried to ambush him, and still, he somehow got away."

The other ANBU had caught up now. Tenten stood and explained to her superiors exactly what happened.

"Damn!" Said Aihara. "Although, it is odd. What did you say he yelled before he stabbed himself?"

"I'm pretty sure it was 'It worked! It's real!'. I'm not positive. Shikamaru, did you hear it?"

Shikamaru shook his head.

_Strange,_ she thought. _He was about as close as I was._

"I was close enough to hear him say something," Shikamaru explained, "but I couldn't make out what it was. Sorry."

"It's all right," she said.

Aihara sighed. "Nothing else left to do then," he said. He pulled the kunai out of the man's chest. "Looks like he just barely missed hitting his own heart…" He wrapped up the wound to keep the blood from pouring out."

"Genwaku, go to the hospital and get this guy a biopsy. Aikuchi, get back on guard duty."

"Hai," she said. She nodded to say goodbye to Shikamaru, and ran off.

_Well, that certainly was strange._

--

Shikamaru stood in half-shock, trying to keep a straight face as the team of ANBU dispersed.

_This…this proves it!_

He looked down at the dead body of Shibuimaru Takuo.

_The Death Note…It's not only real, it's precise! To every detail! It followed everything I wrote…_

And he remembered exactly what he wrote.

_Shibuimaru Takuo: Suicide. At 7:42 on the night of the Shirotsuke Matsuri festival, he will take advantage of the lack of guards and escape his prison. Chased by ANBU, he will run all the way to the Shinjuku Clock-Tower, where he will be attacked by another shinobi throwing a knife. He will take the knife and stab himself in the Vena Cava, and die at 7:57._

Judging by what Tenten had said, the Note had been clear and precise, doing exactly as he had written. Even the times he had written were perfectly correct.

In a few days, he would check on the biopsy of Shibuimaru, pretending to be saddened by a good man's death, and make sure the man had stabbed himself right in the vena cava. That would be his proof.

His experiment complete, Shikamaru began walking back home, and quickly found himself wondering many things.

_Can it really be so easy…? Taking human life isn't a new experience to me, but this…this isn't even a challenge. Anyone can be targeted…anyone who's name and face I know! But…why is it here? Where did it come from? Something this powerful can't really have just been laying around… And why has it never been mentioned before in history…?_

He quickly opened his door, hastily went inside his room without even bothering to turn the light on, and picked up the Death Note. The name, as well as the entire description of his death were all right there.

"I see you've already tried it out."

Shikamaru's eyes widened, and he turned to find some sort of monster standing a few feet away. He yelled out in surprise and almost fell over.

"Are you really so surprised to see me? I'm the shinigami who dropped that notebook, Ryuk."

Shikamaru quickly regained his calm.

"Shinigami…?" Shikamaru said.

_Like the one Sandaime summoned to defeat Orochimaru?_

"I see…that explains where this thing suddenly came from. So then, Ryuk… I used your notebook knowing full well what it might be… What happens now? Some sort of punishment?"

"You, too, huh?" He chuckled. "I'm not going to do anything to you. The moment that Death Note landed in this world, it belonged to this world. Since you're the one who picked it up, it now belongs to you."

_It belongs…to me?_

Shikamaru did not know what the Shinigami had meant by "You, too, huh?" but he was sure he knew what he wanted to know next.

"So there really is no price at all for using the Death Note?"

"Hm… let me put it this way. They say that those who use the Death Note are struck with constant grief and terror. Also… don't think that anyone who uses the Death Note can go to heaven or hell."

_That's fine with me… Not like I've really ever considered myself going to heaven. I'm a smoker, and a lazy ass. But now I'm one who has this Death Note…_

"But then, why did you drop it?" He said. "The rules are written in, there's no way you dropped it by accident."

"Why? There's only one simple reason. I dropped it because I was bored."

_Bored? If anyone other than me had picked up this Death Note, something horrible could've happened already…_

"You see, these days shinigami don't have much to do. Usually they're all either napping or gambling. If they see you writing names in your notebook they'll ask you why you're trying to so hard. But it's no fun to write anyone's names while I'm up there. So dropping the notebook down here is more fun. That's how I figured it, anyway."

"So you randomly dropped the notebook, looking for some fun, and I just happened to be the one to pick it up?"

"Yeah, just about. If you don't want it, you can just give it to someone else, but I'll have to erase any memory you have of the Death Note."

Shikamaru remained silent, taking it all in.

_There's no way I can just hand this off to anyone. That's too dangerous…_

"So, I gotta ask, do you have any plans for this thing?"

Shikamaru looked up at Ryuk.

He chuckled.

"I've only just discovered this notebook, Ryuk. Although, I feel as if there's something about it that just made me want to try it at least once, despite my suspicion."

"In any case, there's only one thing I have no doubt about. In a world like this, where being a kage means being nearly invincible, and having power means no one can stop you…"

"This Death Note is definitely the most powerful weapon in all shinobi history!"

_With it, I can rid Konoha of its enemies… I can kill anyone who tries to disrupt the peace we have now… With this notebook, there's so many possibilities…_

"And I don't doubt, either," he added, "that I'm the best person that could have found it. If it's fun you're like for, Ryuk, look no further. It's all about to begin."

Ryuk chuckled his creepy laugh, and Shikamaru stared at the Death Note.

_So much power… in MY hands…so, now then…_

_How should I use it?_

* * *

(1) - I don't know what the exact translation of Gatsuuga is, but you all know what that is. Sakuganki means drill. It's basically a more powerful version of Kiba's Gatsuuga.

(2) - Since Shikamaru was already a Chunin Team 10 had only two members, and with Naruto and Sasuke gone from the village, Team 7 had only one. So I figured it made sense that Sakura would just join Ino and Chouji to make one complete team.

(3) - I figure even at this point, only Naruto's closest friends know about the Kyubi.

Also, Aikuchi is Tenten's ANBU codename. It means dagger.

Author's Note: Now, just to make a note, the story hasn't even started. So far there are only vague hints as to what will happen, so if you think it's just Shikamaru killing off missing-nin, keep reading. It's far from that. Also, I wanna point out that I actually enjoyed writing Kiba and Tenten. Maybe it's because they don't get much canon time and you can mold their personalities a bit, I dunno, but I still preferred it to writing the big characters like Naruto or Kakashi. Also, I said before the first chapter that this story goes AU after the point where Tobi reveals himself as Madara, but some canon events I kept since they don't matter too much to the story and I kinda like the way they were done in the manga. One such event would be Jiraiya's death fighting Pein, which was mentioned in this chapter. On the other hand, I'm sticking with evil Itachi, despite recent manga chapters. And I mention this only because I know if I don't, someone's going to ask about it. And god help me if someone asks anyway.

Also, anything not explained in this chapter (such as Sasuke's condition and who else died fighting Akatsuke) will be revealed in the coming few chapters.

Please R&R! I'll be writing up one more chapter before I go back to Loser Uchiha for a bit.


	3. Lock On

Sorry for the incredibly huge delay. I've been kind of...busy, lately. Sports, school, finals, and a lack of inspiration. Personally, I don't like to rush and force myself to write, therefore bullshitting a chapter, because then it just ends up bad. Better good and late than on time and crappy, right?

Anyway, I just want to point out something. For this story, I'm probably going to be writing a little darker than in Loser Uchiha. That is, unlike most things in the anime genre, deaths are real. Don't expect a twist. If you've ever read George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, expect me to be about as ruthless as him with characters.

Reviews:

ArmorOfGeddon: I know that it's hard to assume that they don't expect themselves to be ready. But it seems that while writing your review you yourself came up with a scenario that can explain why Hinata doesn't think she's ready yet, and only defeated Konan because of the present situation, and probably wouldn't be able to do it again in another predicament. That just shows that it IS possible, but I'm not going into any detail on how Akatsuke was defeated unless it's important. It's possible that I may do something small about it, but I really doubt it. The idea is for readers to just imagine for themselves how it happened. This story doesn't focus on that, so I don't see it as important enough to include.

Blue Eyes White Dragon 1998: Sorry to hear that, man. I'm not planning on stopping, though, luckily. So far the story's not doing so bad, I just suffer from huge bursts of laziness.

Unreproachablephoenix: You don't really need to read Death Note to understand the story. In fact, everything from the series that you need to know is included here, so you'll understand it. The only benefits you'd get from having read it is familiarity with the ideas and you would understand the random references in the names. For example, Matsui, Shibuimaru Takuo, and Aihara are all names taken from Death Note. Although, I would suggest watching or reading it. It's my favorite anime, it's amazing.

Dragontwister: I can tell you it's not his eyes that are the problem. You'll find out in the next chapter, I think. Or the one after. Definitely one of those two.

Shoelacey: Most of the stories I read are about 30-40 page-long chapters. They're great stories, but they don't update all that often. I shouldn't be complaining about that, though...

That's all. Enjoy the chapter!

_Thoughts or Flashback text. _**Thoughts during flashbacks.**

* * *

**Shinigami no Nara**

Arc I - Leaf's Note

_**Chapter II – Lock-On**_

* * *

The skies had cried that morning.

Shikamaru ignored the water droplets covering his face, allowing the rain instead to soak him. On a normal day, even he, the lazy ass he was, would try to find shelter from nature. But not today.

It was the second day of the Shirotsuke Matsuri, the mourning day. He had gotten up quite early in the morning to attend the annual service held at the base of the Hokage Mountain. The service itself was optional, but Shikamaru had attended every year so far.

After all, the entire day was meant to remember those who had died fighting Akatsuke. Many Konoha shinobi had died, but Shikamaru went to honor one particular individual more than any other. Sarutobi Asuma, his teacher, whom he had avenged.

The last three years, Shikamaru had avidly honored the life and death of his teacher and all the others that had died. But this year was different; Shikamaru knew he had no time. He had acquired something great, and he could waste no time in figuring out how he would use it.

The Death Note was indeed the greatest weapon to ever exist in shinobi history. Of that, there was no doubt. Shikamaru had spent some time trying to figure out all the extra rules that Ryuk had not bothered to write into the notebook. From the looks of it, there were many, and Ryuk did not bother to reveal a single one. Shikamaru knew there was still a lot more to learn about the mysterious notebook of death, and for that reason he had ended his mourning early today.

Speaking of Ryuk, as Shikamaru learned, the shinigami was opt to follow him around everywhere he went. As he had said, Ryuk really was looking solely for entertainment, and from the looks of it, he had never before seen a shinobi.

The shinigami had apparantly not seen any problem with explaining to Shikamaru how the Shinigami Realm, cut off to all humans, had always had a portal that led to the Ningenkai (the human world). However, the human world he spoke of was not the one Shikamaru lived in. According to Ryuk, a new portal had recently appeared leading to this world, which the "Shinigami King" believed was a separate dimension of the world the shinigami were used to.

Of course, that was all Ryuk had been willing to tell Shikamaru. That, and the fact that no human can see Ryuk himself unless they touched the Death Note. However, the Note itself was plainly visible to any human.

That, at least, was a helpful bit of information, Shikamaru thought. He vaguely wondered how many other tips Ryuk could give him that would be just as helpful.

"So, Shikamaru," said the shinigami, "any plans for the Death Note yet?"

"Nope," he answered. "You have to understand the politics of this world, Ryuk. Then you would see how limited I am to options, despite the free power of the Death Note."

"Huh?" Replied the shinigami. "Politics? With the Death Note, you can outright kill anyone you want, and no one would ever be able to trace it back to you. What could be so hard?"

"It may be true that the murder can't be traced to me specifically…however, it can still be traced to Konoha. And that in itself would be bad, whether I'm found or not."

"Hoh… You explained how the countries are divided, and almost each one has its own village of shinobi. So I'm wondering, what would _you_ do with the Death Note? Does Konoha have enemies that you're gonna take out?"

"Not really. At the moment, we're on mutual terms with most of the other Hidden Villages. This whole festival going on right now…it's to celebrate the defeat of our biggest enemies. I'm sure this thing would have been much more helpful four years ago…but it doesn't matter. I can't use this thing the way you think I could. It just won't work that way. However, I can use it for subtle murders and assassinations. After all, it's the little things that change life in politics. The little people that are knocked off, one by one…"

"But, Shikamaru, I still don't get it… Why can't you kill people from other villages to make yours stronger?"

"For two reasons. One is obvious; if I were to start writing down names of all the most powerful people in all the other villages, even an idiot is going to realize that no one in Konoha has died. And there's no way I'm going to kill people here just to hide the fact that I support Konoha."

"The other reason is what happens to a shinobi when he or she dies. Usually, when a shinobi dies, other villages' shinobi get a chance to steal that shinobi's secrets. They can take the body and use it to discover all the secrets of that individual's abilities. If people start dying left and right, chances are someone's gonna end up dead on a mission, and some other village is going to steal the cadaver. Then those two villages may end up fighting over it, while the same happens with other villages as well. Then what? We end up in world war. I try to use the Death Note to stop it by killing more people, and all that's gonna do is cause more problems, until eventually, the world breaks up into small clans of shinobi again and the chaos begins. Peace is over."

"Huh…so you really thought this all out since last night, huh?" Ryuk asked.

"It wasn't particularly hard, considering its all stuff I already know."

Ryuk nodded, seemingly understanding what Shikamaru had explained.

"Although," said Shikamaru, "for the time being, I can at least knock off any rogue shinobi I want. Since I can control the way they die, I can simply write their name in, followed by a death specified to have them killed or captured by someone from their own village. And I already have one missing-nin whose fate is sealed…"

_After all, four years is far too long. Zetsu, I've finally found the way to ensure your death!_

Already the night before, he had written Zetsu's name in the Note, specifying that he would be captured by Konoha shinobi, interrogated, and then executed. He just had to wait a few days to witness the events themselves. A new team from the remainder of the Niju Shotai had been dispatched, and it was only a matter of time before they found him.

Behind him, Ryuk sighed.

"I was hoping, when I realized the person who picked up the Death Note was another genius, that would mean entertainment like I had had last time. But from the looks of it, Shikamaru isn't going to show me any fun…"

Shikamaru closed his eyes for a moment, as they entered a square. _Just wait, Ryuk. I can't tell you anything, but I think I may just have a purpose for the Note…_

At that moment, Ryuk's eyes instantly lit up. Shikamaru turned to see what the shinigami was staring at.

"Amazing," breathed Ryuk, "apples here look even more delicious!"

--

"…And thus, we have come here today to remember those shinobi who fought bravely to their deaths to end the greatest peril this world has yet seen."

It was the end of yet another speech that talked about the same thing: the deaths of Konoha shinobi. Personally, Hinata thought it made no sense to talk endlessly about the shinobi who died. All it did was bring more sadness to those who had come the morning of the Second Day. All those people had come from was to pay respects to their loved ones that had died, and to honor them. Standing through an hour of speeches about how they had died was no help, and therefore was pointless, she thought.

Nevertheless, a large congregation continued to appear the morning of the Second Day every year. It showed how much respect people held for the dead.

As the final speech commenced, given by village elder Mitokado Himura, the crowd began to scatter. Some people left, but most searched for those they had lost. Due to the rather large number of shinobi who had fallen, instead of writing their names upon the traditional memorial, a new memorial had been erected at the base of the Hokage Monument for all those who had died fighting Akatsuke.

Accompanied by a host of other Hyuga members, mostly elders and Main House members, Hinata made her way over to the name of Hyuga Hatari. Hatari had been a Branch House member, but he had fought valiantly not only to fight Akatsuke but also to preserve the Hyuga's Bloodline Limit. Because of that, every year Hiashi had basically forced the Main House at least to visit and pay respects to Hatari, among many others.

Hinata stared at the name, carved into the solid rock of the mountain and boldened with colors of the Hyuga clan, remembering the man whom she had barely known. She patiently waited in silence until she was free, as she had others she wanted to pay respects to as well.

When at last the Hyuga dispersed away from the name of Hyuga Hatari, Hinata immediately rushed over to the name of another individual she had always come to pay respects for: Sarutobi Asuma. By the name were her friends, students of Asuma, Ino and Chouji. She was rather surprised not to see Shikamaru with them.

As she slowly approached the two, she wondered what to say. They had always been a tad touchy about the subject of their teacher's death. No doubt they were all reminded of Asuma's last words to them, which Hinata had heard he had at least been able to give. That was a better death than most shinobi got, and it was well-deserved.

In the end, Hinata chose to say nothing. After all, silence was often the simplest way to greet one in deep or emotional thought. She stood with them for a moment, until Chouji at last turned to greet her.

"'Morning, Hinata," he said in a rather loud, cheerful tone. Was he trying to lift their spirits? In this atmosphere, it was near impossible…

"Good morning," she said, a quick bow to both him and Ino.

"Morning," said Ino, almost sighing as she spoke.

"Um…may I ask, where's Shikamaru? He's usually here for this ceremony…" she said, in her trademark quiet tone.

"He was here earlier," said Chouji, "but he left. We don't really know why."

"He said he had some important business to take care of," Ino said, "something he wouldn't tell us about. I'm not sure, really. He's usually too lazy to keep a secret, but he wouldn't spill."

Hinata nodded, not wanting to pry any further. Instead, she turned to the name of Sarutobi Asuma, carved into the mountain.

"Asuma-sensei…he was a great man," she said.

"Please, don't bother, Hinata," said Ino. "We finished grieving four years ago. We're just here to pay our respects.

Nodding again, Hinata remained silent for a moment, paying her respects as well, as Ino and Chouji stared at the name of their late teacher.

"Um…," she began, "by any chance, have either of you seen Naruto-kun…?"

"Oh, yeah," replied Chouji, "I saw him here a while ago. I'm not sure where he went, but I'd check by Jiraiya's name first. He's more than likely there."

"Thank you, Chouji," she said as she turned to leave.

"See you later, Hinata," he said.

"Goodbye."

"Bye, Hinata," Ino called after her.

The crowd that had occupied the monument was slowly dispersing, but there remained enough people that Hinata still had to push her way through. Easily not a simple task for someone like her, but she eventually made it through the thinning crowd.

Unlike the other shinobi, Jiraiya had a large memorial. For most, only their name and accomplishment against Akatsuke were listed. For Jiraiya, much more had been included. Hinata read it off to herself as she did every year.

In Memory of Shiroyama Jiraiya,

The Toad Hermit, Legendary Sannin of Konoha, (and Perverted Hermit)

Master of Toads, Friend of Gamabunta,

Protector of Konoha

Accomplishments: Standing against Pein and discovering his weaknesses and even at his last breath finding a way to send that knowledge back to Konoha; Gathering intelligence regarding Akatsuke; Planting spies within Akatsuke; and refusing to allow any consideration of negotiation with Akatsuke.

Beneath it was a list of Jiraiya's many accomplished students, including both Naruto and the Yondaime. Having paid due respect, Hinata looked around, searching for the yellow mop of hair she knew so well. Even in a crowd such as this, Naruto's hair and attire were near impossible to miss.

Having quickly spotted him, Hinata made her way over, careful not to interrupt anyone's grieving. Naruto quickly noticed her, but continued to stare at the memorial.

After shuffling through the crowd and finding a spot standing next to him, Hinata quietly wondered what to say. She could tell Naruto was not in his normal mood; who could be, in this atmosphere? But she knew who he was here for. She remembered back before Akatsuke was defeated, everything that Naruto had been forced to go through. He was Akatsuke's only target, and therefore their only interest in the village. Had it not been for him, Akatsuke would probably not have had much involvement with Konoha. It was natural for someone like Naruto to feel that a lot of it was his fault. In fact, he had at one point put the blame of everyone's deaths on himself. Luckily, he had used that emotion to fight Pein instead of taking it out on himself in any way.

However, it was not only the other deaths that saddened him. Naruto himself had lost people to Akatsuke. Very important people. The first had been Jiraiya, who had died fighting Pein with only a code left behind to be deciphered, as a last attempt to help Naruto on the inevitable battle with the Akatsuke leader.

Yet, following Jiraiya was another terrible loss. Slowly, thinking of it, her eyes found the name to which Naruto was currently paying his respects. A name none would ever forget.

Hatake Kakashi,

The Copy Ninja, Master of 1,000 Jutsus

Kakashi-sensei's death had been last-second; none had seen it coming. As the heroes who waged the last battle with Akatsuke slowly emerged from their personal fights, only one returned defeated. Sakura, who had fought against Zetsu alongside Kakashi, returned with her mortally wounded teacher after the plant man escaped. It had been a bittersweet victory for Konoha, losing one of its most precious shinobi and a very memorable citizen.

At the very least, Kakashi had left behind three promising students who had each more than replaced him.

Losing his two teachers must have been a terrible pain for Naruto, she thought. She could not imagine what he must have gone through at the time. Yet life went on, and Naruto remained the same person he had always been, perhaps more often drawing on the qualities of his late teachers and becoming more like them with every passing year.

Suddenly, Naruto slowly seemed to come back to himself, smiled, and cheerfully greeted Hinata.

"G'morning, Hinata!" he said, turning to her.

"M-morning, Naruto," she said, slightly surprised by his sudden change in mood.

"I've had enough of standing around here, I feel like going out to do something a little more…bright, if you know what I mean. How 'bout you?"

She nodded in agreement. "What were you thinking of?" She asked.

"I dunno," he answered, scratching his head and looking up into the cloudy sky. "But getting off this mountain would be a nice start. Let's go."

She slowly followed Naruto away from the monument, bidding goodbye to her father and fellow clan members on the way.

The streets of Konoha were mostly empty of pedestrians. Instead, a majority of the people who bothered to be outside during the rain were helping to clean up after the previous night. The festival had been held across the entire village, and so although the clean-up had commenced late last night, it was still going on. Those who had helped to prepare for the festival had been spared the work of cleaning up, which was the main reason Hinata and most of her friends had done so.

"Hey, Hinata," Naruto said abruptly, "do you mind if we go to the training field where Team 7 used to practice? I've always felt calm there, and I don't really feel like going anywhere else…"

"Mm, that's fine," she said, and the two made their way down through the streets to Training Area #29.

When they arrived, Naruto took a stand right in the center of the clearing. The training field was actually rather large, but simple enough to be used more for Genin training than anything else. Hinata watched as he inhaled a large breath of air, and sighed out loud. Hands on his hips, he stared out at the pond across from him, a memorial from the Third Great Ninja War between the blond and the pond.

Hinata quietly understood how Naruto had dealt with his losses. She knew that it was not his way to be troubled and held back by grief, but to learn and not forget what had happened.

She saw now, she was sure, the image of what Naruto had become. He had matured, grown, learned, and become. He had no doubt changed.

But she knew there was still more to come, and Naruto no doubt had more to do. And when that time came, she would play her own role and help him as best she could.

--

Shikamaru sat calmly at his desk, pen in hand, Death Note open still to its first page.

In front of him was an official Konoha Bingo Book, borrowed from Tenten who had received it as a standard piece of ANBU equipment. He slowly turned the pages, searching for every Konoha Missing-nin.

Sure, there weren't any big ones out there anymore. Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi had been the worst of them, and they were both long dead. But there still remained others to take care of. Kabuto, for instance, had never been captured. Nor had he ever been sighted since his confrontation with Naruto, but the chance still existed that Kabuto was still out there, alive and plotting.

When he had run out of missing-nin to kill off, Shikamaru sat back in his chair and read through the list once more. He had made sure that all of them would be found, captured, interrogated, and finally executed. He did not want to risk any of their bodies being found by enemy villages, so they all had to be captured by Konoha shinobi who would immediately bring them back to Konoha.

Resting from the rather simple work, Shikamaru's thoughts turned back to that of the Hidden Stone village, Iwagakure.

"Deep thinking, eh?" said Ryuk, behind him. He was not so quietly digging into the bushel of apples that Shikamaru had bought for him earlier at the square.

"I guess so," he replied.

"I see you've finally gotten around to writing some names, but there aren't that many on there, either."

"Not that many?" Shikamaru said, somewhat surprised. "How many people could I possibly have a need to kill? What are you expecting me to do, Ryuk, murder the entire world?"

"Maybe not that," said the shinigami, "but something a little more…fun. But then again, I suppose you don't have that many ethically killable targets."

"Ethically killable? Do you mean people I wouldn't have a problem killing? Like…criminals?"

"Mm Hm."

"_These_ are the criminals in this world, Ryuk. I don't know what its like in the other Ningenkai. But I am killing those that I have no moral reason not to."

"I see."

Silence followed as Shikamaru began to ponder the situation with Iwagakure.

_Iwagakure…has got to be hiding something in those mountains… What other reason could they have for trying to keep us out?_

That thought had been nagging at him since his return from the hunt for Zetsu. The half-man-half-plant was no longer a threat or a worry to him, but part of him was glad that the useless hunt had led them up there. It had given him a hint, even a hunch, perhaps, that something was going on there. Something that did not rest comfortably with him.

_Argh…it may be that this peace is coming to an abrupt end… But this time, I've got the Death Note. Hopefully if anything happens, I'll be able to stop it with this…_

But as he struggled to remember anything he had seen in the Raifunkakou Mountains that could possibly have been a clue, he constantly came up with nothing.

_Dammit… I've got to remember something… There's no way we went through nearly the entire mountain range and saw nothing. There has to be SOMETHING. C'mon, think, remember!_

--

_Since entering the Raifunkakou Mountains, Shikamaru couldn't help but notice a rather distinct smell. No doubt, it was the smell of burnt earth, which was probably one of the reasons for the naming of the mountain range. The Lightning Craters of the Lightning Crater Mountains, after all, must have been hit by lightning at some point. It was just an annoyance that the smell seemed to have lingered._

"_Shikamaru," said Raido, "do you think at all that—"_

"_Yeah," he answered, cutting Raido off. "It's definitely suspicious that they don't want us in here. We're in the middle of an era of peace…If they have something to hide, it's definitely not a good sign."_

"_Then we should search the mountains," said Kotetsu. "If we can find whatever it is they're hiding…"_

"_No, we can't do that. For one, we don't have the time. That guy said they'll send men in after us if we're not out in three days, and that's nowhere near enough time to search the entire mountain range. Also, if we do find something but get caught, then this peace will be over far sooner than we want it to."_

_They nodded, and the squad continued to make its way through the rocky terrain._

_After some difficult hiking that none were very used to, they came upon a bridge that extended over a ravine._

"_This bridge was a major supply route during the Third Great Ninja War…" said Raido._

"_Yeah," said Izumo._

_Shikamaru stopped at the center of the bridge._

"_What is it?" Asked Kotetsu._

_Not answering, Shikamaru peered down into the ravine, hardly seeing anything. He could barely make out the bottom._

"_The bridge was rebuilt after the war, wasn't it? We destroyed it to damage the Earth's front lines because we didn't have enough shinobi to challenge them at the time."_

"_That's correct," said Raido._

"_Do you know what's at the bottom?"_

_All three of his teammates shook their heads._

"_I think maybe we should check it out. There's a possibility if Zetsu is still here, he may be hiding down there."_

"_Good idea," Izumo said._

_After they slowly made their way down to the bottom of the ravine, they found themselves lacking enough light to investigate the ravine well._

"_Doesn't seem like there's anything down here…" Shikamaru muttered to himself as he shuffled through the rocks. It was full of rubble._

"_Looks like this is all left behind from when our shinobi destroyed the bridge. I would assume the old bridge was made out of stone like this one, but was it big enough to get all of this rubble here?"_

"_The only way to know would be to ask someone who was part of the mission…" said Kotetsu._

"_That's impossible," said Raido._

"_Why's that?" Shikamaru asked, interested._

"_They're all dead. The mission was carried out by the Fourth, back when he was a Jounin, and his students. Two of them were Chunin, Uchiha Obito and Iyasu Rin, and the other was Hatake Kakashi-san._

**Damn. If only Kakashi were still around…**_, he thought to himself._

"_So there's no way to find out, then," Shikamaru said. "But it doesn't seem right that all of this rubble would have come from the bridge alone. If only we could see…"_

"_Shikamaru! Raido!" Izumo hissed._

"_What? What is it? Raido whispered._

"_I'm not positive, but I thought I just saw…someone. Someone that may have been watching us…"_

_Shikamaru gazed upward at the looming bridge above. "Did you actually see a person, or could it have been something else? An animal?"_

"_I'm sure there was something there. I'm _almost_ sure it was a human…"_

"_We should get out of here, then," Shikamaru concluded. "Raido, you go—"_

_Before he could finish speaking, he nearly tripped over a hole in the rubble._

"_Argh. Raido, you go up first. Then Izumo, Kotetsu, and finally me."_

_The others all nodded and slowly began climbing up, one by one, from different places._

_In the meantime, Shikamaru knelt down to inspect the hole he had tripped over. It was certainly deep compared to all the rest of the rubble._

_He slowly moved his hand down the hole, feeling along the way for a bottom. At last he found one, bending away to the right._

**If only I could see…**

_He felt around some more, and realized that the whole widened where it twisted away._

"_Shikamaru?" He heard Raido call from above._

**It's nothing…just a hole. Just some weird luck that it ended up like this. In any case, there's no way Zetsu could have fit through here with the giant plant on him… Nor would he need to. He can move through earth without making holes. There's nothing more here to look for.**

"_I'm coming!" He yelled, and began his ascent back up to the bridge._

_From there, the hunt turned westward, then south, east, and finally back north to where they had entered the mountains. Shikamaru had hoped to return to the ravine and attempt to explore further, but their route took them through another road and he did not have the chance._

--

"That's gotta be it…" he said to himself slowly.

"Hm?" Said Ryuku, intrigued, and still eating his apples.

"The hole in the ravine…it could have been a tunnel. A tunnel that led somewhere important. And Izumo DID see someone…someone from Iwagakure must have been keeping tabs on us the whole way. When they saw that we'd gone down into the ravine, they got worried and got too close, then gave away their presence.

Not long after that, Shikamaru was sitting in Tsunade's office, explaining to her what he had realized.

"Hm…" she said, yawning. "That _does_ seem possible…and definitely worth checking out."

"Are you still planning on sending out that team?"

"Yes. In fact I was just arguing with some of the village elders over the importance of gathering information about the situation. It seems they don't believe anything could be disturbing the peace right now. In any case, this will definitely give me the necessary argument to convince them to do it."

"The only thing is," said Shikamaru, "I want to find out more about that ravine. But Raido said that everyone from Konoha who was involved that mission is dead."

"Yes, Kakashi was the last."

"Damn…"

"There's a possibility that one of the enemies they faced there may still be alive. If we can find them…"

"How likely is that chance, though? Most likely, they'd be in Iwagakure still. Or dead."

"That's true, but it's still worth a chance."

Shikamaru nodded. If they somehow _could_ find anyone that had been there, it would give them access to the information they needed. The problem was that they would probably be loyal to Iwagakure, and if something was linked to that ravine, they wouldn't talk.

"Anyway," continued Tsunade, "you're not the only one with theories about Iwagakure. I've spoken to some other analysts, and we, that is, me, the village elders, most of Konoha's anlysts, and a majority of the higher class shinobi believe that Iwagakure may have a new tactician in power."

"A new…tactician?"

"Yes. Due to recent moves and actions from the Hidden Stone, we've reasoned that there must be someone in power there with a lot more strategic skill than Iwagakure has seen in a long time. Since the Second Ninja War, perhaps."

"So you think Iwagakure is definitely planning something?"

"One thing is for certain, and we all agree on it. There's something going on that we don't know about. And we have to find out what it is."

"I see…" he said.

"Well…if there's nothing else, you're dismissed. Thanks for the information."

"No problem," Shikamaru said, and he took his leave.

When he arrived back home, he carefully closed the door behind him.

He chuckled. Ryuk raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Ryuk…looks like I've finally found a purpose for the Death Note."

"Huh?" Asked the shinigami, puzzled.

"I'm going to find and kill this Earth tactician. And with the Death Note, there's absolutely no way I can fail."

He smirked.

"Like I said. The greatest weapon in shinobi history."

He pulled the Death Note from beneath his bed, where he had hidden it.

"Two men who know nothing about each other," said Ryuk. "The first one to be found dies. Sounds fun."

The shinigami sounded especially delighted. It was as if he was surethis would bring him amusement.

"Humans…" continued Ryuk, "truly are amusing!"

* * *

And there you have it. It took me way too long, I admit, and it's length doesn't make up for the long wait. I really am sorry, and now that it's summer I'll almost definitely be updating more often. Once I get through the exposition of the story, though, it should be easier and faster to write. Maybe one more chapter to go before what I consider the introduction ends and the story really begins.

And please, no one leave angry reviews about certain people that you love being dead. It'll just be annoying.

Please R&R!

Next Chapter: Mission

* * *


	4. Missions

See, this time I actually managed to get it done in a decent amount of time. And it's the longest chapter yet. Thank god for summer? And friends going on vacation without me...

Anyway, some more details on the battle with Akatsuki in this chapter. I'll make it clear, I'm not planning on going into full detail of it, just giving glimpses.

Not much else to say. Enjoy the longest chapter yet!

* * *

**Shinigami no Nara**

Arc I: Leaf's Note

_**Chapter III: Missions**_

Patrol duty was difficult, to say the least.

So thought Tenten as she balanced her way across the southern wall of Konoha. Not difficult in task, like completing an assassination or stealthily stealing information. Patrol duty was different; it required her to stay awake throughout the entire night, from dusk till dawn, without a wink of sleep. She often wondered how useful a sleep-deprived ANBU would be should anything happen at, say, five in the morning. It was a weak point for Konoha, in her opinion, but it was probably just her way of complaining about the job she was stuck with.

After all, she was still a novice in the ANBU corps, and the newbies usually got handed simple jobs such as patrol duty, just as Genin got the D ranked missions.

Part of her, inside, hoped that one day something exciting may happen while she was on patrol, as it had three weeks ago when she was on guard duty during the Shiroitsuke Matsuri. But that would also mean a danger to the village. Therefore, it was a bad hope, and she discarded it immediately.

She sighed, the silence growing around her as she put more distance between herself and her fellow patrollers.

On the other hand, Konoha was attacked only once every few decades at most, according to past history, which meant that patrol duty was usually peaceful. On a night like this especially, it was still worth it to watch the night sky. Having become bored with patrols, Tenten had come up with the idea to learn the many constellations visible on cloudless nights, and had since begun a quest to find them all. She had borrowed a book from Neji with all the constellations in it, but she couldn't bring it with her. Nevertheless, it helped her to recognize and find them all.

Even better than the constellations was the sunrise and sunset. At times she had been able to catch glimpses of natural phenomena such as the Green Flash(1), and one time even a lunar eclipse.

Honestly, the sky fascinated her these days. It took everything she had to keep from getting too distracted from her job. Speaking of which, she reverted her gaze back from the night sky to the trees and forest outside the village walls.

Even further into the night, Tenten had found nothing more interesting than the sky. The evening was silent; not unnaturally silent, of course. But uneventful.

Until, of course, Genwaku appeared.

Genwaku had a few years experience more than her, being the same difference in age. As with most of the ANBU agents, Tenten did not know him well outside of his mask and codename. She could see brown curls above his owl mask and tanned skin between his gloves and arm guards.

Aside from that, she only knew his capabilities as a shinobi. She did not often see him in action, but in the past, she had had glimpses of Genwaku's abilities. He often made use of a mysterious ninjutsu she had never heard of that blended him in with the darkness, and always seemed to be able to know what was happening far off. It was almost like he had a byakugan like Neji's, with 360 degrees. In fact, she had asked him once if he was a Hyuga, but he said he was not.

The only other thing she knew was that Genwaku was experienced and skilled in stealth and reconnaissance.

As homage to his abilities, Genwaku had appeared silently. She struggled to avoid showing surprise when she suddenly heard him call her name.

"Aikuchi."

She turned to find him standing a few meters behind her, arms folded.

"Hai, sempai?"

"You did not notice me?" He questioned. Tenten figured he was also testing her to see if she was focusing on the job.

"I did, Genwaku. I saw no threat in an ally."

"Enemies may deceive and friends may betray. I would be more cautious."

"Hai. Sempai, did you need something?"

"Captain says your duty is done. A replacement is being sent."

"For what purpose? It's still early, and I was supposed to patrol till dawn."

"You and I are to report to the Hokage's office for an important matter. Consider this luck, not punishment."

"What kind of matter…?"

"One secret enough that I don't yet know. Come on, now, they're waiting for us."

She nodded and followed him off the ledge and onto the roof of the closest building to the wall. Genwaku led her calmly through the village to the Hokage's office. She noticed, out of the corner of eye, the shadow of what was most likely her replacement heading towards the wall.

_What kind of matter is this that Genwaku didn't even know…? Is there something wrong in the village? Or is it…_

Was it a mission? Only an S-Class mission would remain secret until the briefing…

Her question remained unanswered until the two of them arrived at the Godaime's personal office. Tsunade-sama, in all her glory, sat at her paper-covered desk. She was in the middle of doing paperwork, it seemed, yet her head looked close enough to the stack of papers that she could possibly have been using it them as a pillow before they had entered.

Also in the room, Tenten noticed, were another pair of ANBU. Sai, Sakura and Naruto's friend from Root, she recognized. The other ANBU, tall, with black hair and a tiger mask, she couldn't recognize.

Tsunade raised her head completely as the four of them together stood at attention.

"Good. You're all here now."

"You were saying, Tsunade-sama?" Asked the tall ANBU.

"Yes, I suppose I can finish my explanation now that everyone is present. I'll have to start from the beginning, though."

She stared, for a moment, at Tenten and Genwaku. Tenten found herself rather nervous as her idol watched her.

"I'm assigning this temporary team a mission of great importance," she said. "I've customized the team to fit the mission parameters according to skill and capabilities. Know that I handpicked the four of you specifically, and that I trust you can all handle the job I'm about to give you."

Tenten, along with the other three, nodded.

"Three weeks ago, one of the Niju Shotai teams returned from a search for the missing Akatsuki member: Zetsu of Kusagakure. While they did not find Zetsu himself, they did find suspicious behavior among Iwagakure shinobi. The lead they were following took them into the Raifunkakou Mountains. Getting passed the Earth Country border guard was easy, but according to the team's report they were confronted by Stone shinobi upon entering the mountains. Speaking in the words of one of the team members, the Iwa nin were anxious at letting them into the mountain range, and warned them that if they did not return in three days, a team would be sent in to find them and bring them out."

"And you're suspicious of that anxiety…?" Asked the taller ANBU.

"Indeed. In passed times, it would not have been so strange. Even now, in fact, Iwagakure being nervous at our shinobi being in their territory would not seem strange. However, that applies to all the Earth Country, not just a part of it. There is no diplomatic or political reason for them to readily let us into their country, but not into those mountains. It's plainly obvious that there is something in there they don't want us to see."

"The lack of patience in their confrontation is proof," said Genwaku. "If they had tried to negotiate and give a reasonable explanation as to why we couldn't enter the mountains, it would be more believable. But from the report you gave, it seems they immediately tried to keep us out, with no proper excuse."

"Precisely," answered Tsunade.

"So our mission objective is to enter those mountains and find what it is we're not supposed to know about?" Asked Sai.

Tsunade nodded. "You are to depart in two day's time. By then, I'll have a map drawn out to show you where the Niju Shotai had already been so as to avoid wasting time. Yamato is the team captain."

The tall shinobi nodded. "Hai, Tsunade-sama."

_I don't see what skills I have that made her specifically choose me for this mission… Is there something else she didn't explain?_

"Now, a few more things," she said. "While exploring the mountains, the Niju Shotai team found a suspicious location, but was unable to properly investigate it. That location is the Ten no Tsuchi bridge."

"Ten no Tsuchi…" said Yamato, "that bridge was critical to the turn of the Third Great Ninja War."

"Indeed," said Tsunade. "The Ten no Tsuchi bridge was part of a major supply route during the war. It was the only fast passage over a giant valley. Konoha destroyed it as part of an attempt to weaken the Earth's front lines. It's been rebuilt since, but at some point the valley caved in and there's nothing left beneath the bridge but a single ravine."

"Kakashi-sempai was a part of the mission to destroy the bridge…"

"He was. After hearing of suspicion by the bridge, the immediate response would have been to question anyone who had been involved in its original destruction. However, Kakashi was the last living member of that team."

Yamato nodded in agreement.

"What was so suspicious about the ravine?" Asked Sai.

"It's floor was completely covered in rubble, according to the report. Also, one of the team members discovered a hole in the rubble. But due to a lack of light and time, he was unable to investigate."

"I see…" said Genwaku, "so that's why I was selected."

"You're abilities are specifically important to this part of your mission. Now, as I said before, you have two days to prepare. Use the village library to gather information on the mountains, the bridge, anything you need. The four Niju Shotai mentioned were Namiashi Raido, Kamizuki Izumo, Hagane Kotetsu, and Nara Shikamaru. Ask them for any information you may require."

Suddenly, there came a hard knock on the door.

"Yes?" Yelled Tsunade, some irritation in her voice.

The door burst open. Shizune ran in.

"Hokage-sama!" She yelled.

"Yes, what is it?" Asked Tsunade. Shizune seemingly regained herself.

"The Hunter-nin have returned. They…they captured Zetsu!"

Tsunade's face instantly awoke from any tiredness she may have felt.

Tenten's eyes widened beneath her mask.

_They finally got him? Really?_

Tsunade turned to the team.

"If there are no further questions…you all are dismissed."

With a quick "Hai!", Tenten hurriedly took her leave. She was interested in the matter of Zetsu's capture, but it was not her business. She had her own matters to think of now.

--

Shikamaru awoke that night to a hard knock on his front door.

"Argh…" he moaned, as he slowly pondered whether he should bother getting up or not. The knocking continued.

"You gonna get that?" Asked Ryuk.

"I'm not sure…" he answered.

As his wakeful senses slowly came back to him, Shikamaru vaguely wondered, for the twentieth night in a row, what Ryuk spent his time doing while he was asleep.

The knocking became even louder, this time accompanied by a powerful, "Open the door or I'll knock it down!"

Lazily, Shikamaru climbed out of bed, recognizing Sakura's angry voice. Not bothering to yell, "I'm coming!", he made his way through the apartment towards the door. He yawned, reaching for the door knob.

But suddenly, the door knob reached for him, and possibly broke a rib as Shikamaru's front door flew out of its frame and into Shikamaru himself.

He yelled as the door knocked him down, Sakura standing in his now empty doorway.

"I warned you…" she said, innocently as she probably could.

"Well, you should have given _me_ of all people some extra time. You know I didn't get up till you threatened the life of my now deceased door."

"Sorry," she said, "but this is urgent."

"What could possibly be important enough for you to break my door over?" He asked.

"It's Zetsu. He's been found."

_Right on time,_ he thought.

"And captured?"

"Mmm hmm. He's being interrogated right now. Tsunade-sama sent me to get you."

He slowly got up. "Fine, then. I'm already up, may as well go."

Sakura then led him down to the Konoha prison, where Zetsu was being interrogated by Ibiki himself. From the other side of a one-way mirror (A/N: what're those called?), Shikamaru saw the man, separated from his Venus-Flytrap, strapped into a chair in the center of who knew how many seals. His skin was evenly split into a black side and a white side, as always before.

"What've I missed?" He asked as he and Sakura arrived.

"Not much," said Tsunade. With her were several village elders and leaders, as well as a two ANBU. Yamato and Sai, he was pretty sure. "So far he's proving how difficult it is to interrogate an Akatsuki member. We killed all the others without having a chance to try it."

"So even Ibiki can't do it, huh?"

"Not yet, anyway. But Zetsu did mention one thing. He said it's not over. "The threat is not yet gone", he said."

_Not yet gone? What the hell does he mean?_

"Does he even know he's the last of the Akatsuki?"

"He does, I'm sure, or he wouldn't have been on the run all this time."

"And—"

"He's mentally stable, yes. We've seen that so far."

Shikamaru nodded, and ceased his questioning, instead turning his attention to the interrogation taking place on the other side of the mirror.

"Listen," Ibiki was saying. "Of all the Akatsuki, you've committed the least crimes, the least offenses. You're criminal history in the Grass Village is minimal. You can still get away alive, if you cooperate."

"That's nonsense," the last of the Akatsuki said. "I leaked information on the Grass to Akatsuke and Iwagakure, and I killed one of Konoha's most favored shinobi. There's no way you'll let me live for killing the copycat ninja. You're lies won't appeal to my will to live. I've already abandoned any hope besides escape."

Shikamaru felt Sakura tense beside him when Zetsu mentioned his murder of Kakashi. And he couldn't blame her; she had been there. No doubt she felt responsible, and that she had failed her teacher by allowing him to die.

But Shikamaru had faced the same situation, the same grief, and he had endured, survived, accepted, and learned from it. So far, it seemed she was doing just as well. But the mere mention of her failure seemed to take away all the work she had done towards forgiving herself.

"In Konoha's history," said Ibiki, "we've been known to choose any option that would avoid danger and death, even if it seems risky and stupid. Don't try to pretend that you still hold any power. You're no threat to us anymore. You're nothing but a hungry, weak, pathetic, begging, missing-nin and criminal. If releasing you meant getting the information we need to avoid future danger, we'd do it. The worst that could happen after that is that you'll put up a fight when you're caught by Kusagakure instead."

Zetsu snorted. "Make me a deal worth taking, and maybe I'll tell you what you want. I may be weak and have nothing left to work for…but I still have something. Something to bargain with. So try again, Morino."

_He's no fool,_ Shikamaru thought. _He's well aware of the fact that we know he has important information. As long as he has that to bargain with, we won't do anything to him. And he knows it._

"Something's strange…" said Sakura. The rest of them turned to look at her.

"When we fought him…he had some sort of a split personality. It was as if each half of his body was a different person. They spoke to each other and…and argued. But he's not doing that now…"

"It may be his separation from the plant," said Tsunade. "No doubt that that thing wasn't ordinary. It's possible it could have been some sort of summon, or another kind of being. That split personality...it may have been Zetsu and the plant."

"That makes sense," Shikamaru agreed.

The interrogation continued for hours more. Zetsu did not seem to give in to Ibiki's cruel tactics. He continued to work on the hope that his bargain would save him. Shikamaru bit his lip, searching for some way to trick him. But as the questioning went on, he quickly realized that Zetsu was smart, and wouldn't fall for anything weak. The only thing they could do was make him a promise and then fail to keep it.

As time passed, Shikamaru couldn't help but think of the fate he had given Zetsu in the Death Note. He had specified his death to follow a successful interrogation. But so far, that did not seem to be coming true. Was it possible that he had been caught by mere chance, and the interrogation wouldn't go as Shikamaru planned it?

_No. He was caught right when I said for him too. Three weeks…time enough to travel near here from any place in the world. There's no way it's just luck that he ended up getting caught right at this time._

"Hey, Shikamaru," said Ryuk. Shikamaru had not even noticed him the entire time. In fact, he vaguely remembered the shinigami following him there from his apartment.

Shikamaru made a facial expression that clearly expressed interest, so as to avoid the other occupants of the room wondering who he was talking to.

"I warned you before that I wasn't on your side in any situation, but neither that I was on anyone else's side."

Shikamaru nodded as subtly as he could.

"But in times like this, I can't help but tell you some things. The Death Note works in strange ways. If something is written into it that is impossible or cannot happen within the parameters you gave it, then the victim will just die of a heart attack instead of whatever you wrote."

_I see. So if anything I had written in for Zetsu's death had been impossible or couldn't happen, he would simply have died of a heart attack forty seconds after I had written his name. But if he didn't die of a heart attack, that has to mean that everything I wrote is possible, and therefore will happen. So somehow, this interrogation has to be successful…_

Yet so far, nothing seemed to be working. And suddenly, Shikamaru had an idea.

"What did they do with the plant?" He asked.

Tsunade turned to him, curious. "It's in another room. It hasn't moved since it was separated from him."

"But…it could still be alive. If it _is_ some sort of living thing…it could simply be playing dead so as to escape death. It's certainly capable of intelligence, if what you said before is true."

"I suppose so. What's your point?"

"Threaten it. Threaten the plant; maybe then Zetsu will talk."

Tsunade seemed not to favor the idea, but as they were running out of hope, she gave in. She instructed Yamato to get the plant and tell Ibiki.

Minutes later, Zetsu's Venus-Flytrap was brought into the interrogation chamber, and his eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" He asked Ibiki.

"We've been told that you're supposed to have a split personality. Literally, _split_. And yet, since you've been separated from this _thing_, you've acted on one personality, one interest, one mind."

Zetsu said nothing.

"So tell me. Is this thing still alive?"

His silence continued.

"I guess not," said Ibiki. He formed the seals for a Katon jutsu. "I guess that means it'll be alright for me to get rid of it, then."

He prepared to let loose his fire, when Zetsu cracked. "No! Don't!" Yelled the former Akatsuki member.

"Oh? Why not?"

"It…It's alive. Do. Not. Kill it."

"Why? Does it have some connection to you?"

"…I guess you could say so."

Ibiki smiled. "So you admit that _this_ is your other personality?"

Zetsu nodded, slowly.

"Would that not mean that it is responsible for the same crimes, the same deaths, the same _punishments_ as you?"

Once again, Zetsu did not answer the question.

"Like you yourself said before, you're punishment can only possibly be death. So the same should go for your… "accomplice"?"

"…Ergh…You…are a cruel man," Said Zetsu.

"I take it you're willing to talk?"

"It depends what kind of deal you're willing to make."

"Talk first. _We_ have the bargaining tool now. I'm in control of the deal-making. What threat is it you're not telling us about?"

Zetsu said nothing for a moment. He seemed to be contemplating the consequences of giving the information.

"The rings," he said.

"What about them?" Asked Ibiki.

"As long as they're still around…there's a threat to be had. And the demons, too. Their part isn't over."

"The biju? How do you mean?"

"When Akatsuki was defeated… When we extracted them, we sealed the beasts into a golem. I'm sure you found it after you took out Pein. But by the time you could have, I doubt the demons were still there."

"I know the golem you're talking about. But why were they not there?"

"Tobi…Madara… I doubt he would have let them go so easily. He probably did something. If he had released them, the world would have been destroyed by now. He must have resealed them…somewhere."

"Uchiha Madara escaped…and hasn't been seen since the destruction of your lair. We assumed him to be dead after he tried to release the Kyubi again."

"No… He wouldn't have left them there. He wouldn't have allowed them to be left there. He definitely would have done something. My guess is people."

"People…?"

"He would have resealed the demons into people…"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there have been five new Jinchuriki running around for the past four years. I know Madara had other connections…someone out of Akatsuki that he frequently met with. Someone who know a lot about the Jinchuriki and their whereabouts. That's probably how he found new hosts."

"What else?"

"That's all I know. If you want to know more…I'd start by investigating the rings. There's more to them than anyone knows. Only Madara knows, I think…I can tell there's something strange about the rings, though."

Ibiki nodded, insincerely thanked Zetsu, and left the interrogation chamber.

_Well, that's that. Now we know…_

There was no need for words in the room. No one wanted to discuss anything just yet.

"Zetsu will be executed tomorrow," Tsunade said.

_And the threat of Akatsuki returns with it…ironic as that is._

--

It was rather early in the morning for anything besides sleep, in Kiba's opinion. And yet he was currently standing in Tsunade's office with Shino, having been summoned there not long ago.

"So what's the deal?" He asked. "We got another mission?"

"Yes," she said. "It's an important one. We're just waiting for your other team members to get here."

"Aye," he said, and took a seat on a couch in the back of the office, Akamaru beside him. He had never actually had a chance to relax in this room…and something told him neither did Tsunade.

The first of his other teammates to arrive was Ino, as annoyed as Kiba was to realize. When she walked in, he had hoped she was there for some other matter, but Tsunade quickly made it clear that she was to be a part of their team.

They waited awhile longer before their last team member finally arrived. Finally, twenty minutes after Shino and Kiba, he entered.

His spiked, jet black hair. Onyx eyes. The ever-constant, indifferent facial expression and the observant edge of his eyes.

The fourth and final member of their team was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Kiba, having not seen Sasuke in a while, took in any new sights he could find. But nothing much had seemed to change about the no-longer brooding Uchiha. Nothing had changed in four years.

At his left, as always, hung kusanagi, Sasuke's sword.

And at his left, as always, hung, limply, his left arm.

Kiba grimaced at the idea of suffering what Sasuke had. There wasn't much known about the final battle of the Uchiha brothers, between Sasuke and Itachi. All that _was_ known was that Sasuke had won. And also that it had taken a brutally powerful chidori to bring him his victory.

One hell of a chidori, no doubt. After all, it had been so powerful that, despite taking the life of Itachi himself, the so-called "lightning blade" had taken a toll on Sasuke as well. Part of the electricity he had generated had backfired and shot up his left arm, frying every nerve and making the entire arm useless and immovable. Since that day, four years ago, Sasuke could not move nor feel anything with his left arm. The loss had relinquished him of his capabilities in Taijutsu and rendered Ninjutsu completely useless, seeing as he could no longer form any seals. Only kenjutsu(2), some taijutsu, and genjutsu remained for him.

With Sasuke's arrival, the mission briefing was ready to begin. Kiba stood and joined his three teammates in front of Tsunade's desk.

"Well," she began, "I'm sure you've all heard the news."

Kiba nodded. "Zetsu's been caught."

"And interrogated?" Ino asked.

"Yes," said Tsunade. "And he gave us a good bit of information. According to Zetsu, the threat of Akatsuki "is not yet over". He said that there's still a threat as long as the eight Bijus' whereabouts are unknown to us. He also said that there's something special about the ten rings that the Akatsuki members wear. Your mission is to discover whatever you can about these rings."

"How are we going to do that?" Kiba asked.

Tsunade pulled from under her desk one of the ten rings. It was Zetsu's own, no doubt.

"We have one. But we know nothing about it, nor do we know how to use it to learn anything. But there are other rings out there."

"To find them," said Shino, "we would have to recover every Akatsuki body we can find. _If_ they have not decomposed."

The tone with which Shino ended his sentence clearly said that that was unlikely.

"True," said Tsunade. "But we'll take them one at a time. There's one particular one I want to start with, that may provide some more information."

"Orochimaru's ring," said Sasuke, his first words since arriving.

"Precisely. And you know where to look for it."

"That's why I'm on this mission, I take it?"

"Yes. You are to serve as the guide. You're objective on this mission is to search through Orochimaru's old lairs and recover his Akatsuki ring. Bring back any other information you may find regarding Akatsuki. Shino is in charge."

"Yahoo!" Kiba yelled. "Finally, a mission actually worth completing!"

Akamaru, in the back of the office, barked in agreement.

--

The morning air did nothing to assist Hinata's breathing as she stood in the Konoha execution grounds, which were not often used. Being the Hyuga heiress, and a future village elder, she had had no choice but to attend Zetsu's execution.

Currently, she was standing beside Tsunade herself out at the edge of the grounds. Zetsu stood in the center, bound to his spot, and probably drugged to avoid any chakra use. The Venus-Flytrap plant stood nearby, tied up but motionless.

Tsunade wore a grim face, not at all happy to be here.

"Um…Tsunade-sama…?"

"What is it?"

"Does it have…does it have to be done like this?"

"I originally had planned for a private execution. But the village elders called for a public one. They said that for four years the knowledge that Zetsu was yet alive had terrorized the citizens of Konoha, and they deserved to see him die with their own eyes."

"I…I see."

Personally, she did not believe that Konoha had any right to execute Zetsu in the first place. He belonged to Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. But apparently the Grass was anxious to see him dead. They had agreed to hold the execution here, as quickly as possible, as long as the body returned to them afterward.

She glanced passed Tsunade, where she saw a Grass representative, with several other Grass shinobi. They all stood at attention, watching and waiting. Clearly, they wanted to see Zetsu dead.

"Hinata," said Tsunade beside her.

"Y-yes?"

"For the next few months, I would like for you to serve as an assistant to me. I've already spoken with your father, and he agrees. You've become a great shinobi over the past few years, but if you want to become the clan Head, you've much to learn still. There are things your father cannot seem to teach you. He believes that working with me may help you."

"…What kind of things do you mean?"

"Political skills and the like. I, too, think it can help you. Think of it as being…an intern of sorts."

"W-what about Sakura?"

"Sakura has work to do. She had become a fully-fledged medic-nin and is serving as one; she no longer has time to work with me. She is no longer my apprentice, only my colleague and soldier."

"I…I see."

"We'll begin tomorrow. Report to my office at seven in the morning."

"Hai."

Drums were being played now. An executioner had come forth, with a rather large sword. Hinata was sure a sword such as that had no place in the battlefield. Its purpose was for executions and for executions only.

One of the village elders was standing in front of Zetsu, reading off a list of crimes to be punished for. She grimaced at each crime, watching Zetsu.

She knew this man was evil. She told herself that he deserved no pity, and should receive none. Nevertheless, she at least did not want to have to watch.

Zetsu himself stood calmly at his spot. Even with her byakugan she could not spot any tenseness, or anger, or nervousness. Only calm acceptance of his fate.

_An unworthy death for one such as him._

The list was done.

"By decree of both Konohagakure and Kusagakure, Zetsu of Kusa, you shall be sentenced to decapitation by sword and burning."

The village elder stepped aside, and into the crowd. The executioner moved forward.

_Two punishments? Or are they separate…for the man the and the plant?_

Before she could wonder anything else, the execution held his sword up and to the side. He stood there a moment, almost as if he contemplated not killing the man. Then he swung forward, and Zetsu's head flew off in a rain of blood.

--

_The deed is done._

Shikamaru took his eyes off the now dead man. To the side, the Venus-Flytrap disappeared in a puff of smoke. Shinobi around it reacted in surprise and prepared to fight.

"Calm down," Shikamaru told them. "Most likely it was just a summon with a very powerful connection to him. It couldn't go back to its world until he died."

_Which would explain why he fought so hard to keep it alive. We meant to kill it with him still breathing, which would have actually killed it._

More importantly, Zetsu was finally gone. He would have liked to think that with it came the proper end of Akatsuki, but it seemed that his capture had only eluded to a continuation of their long battle.

_Nevertheless, he's out of the way now._

Yes. Now that Zetsu was gone and taken care of, Shikamaru could move on to more important matters.

"Heh, Shikamaru," said Ryuk behind him. "Now that this is over, you can finally tell me what you're planning to do with the Death Note. You said you wouldn't tell me until Zetsu was dead."

Not answering, Shikamaru walked off, heading in Tsunade's direction. Confused, Ryuk followed him.

"Hokage-sama," he said, reaching her. "I need to speak to you."

"Privately," he added.

Tsunade looked at the people around her. Hinata and a few other shinobi moved off.

"Come. We'll talk here." She said, and beckoned him away.

They walked out, up to the wall of Konoha. Shikamaru thought she had meant there, but she continued walking up a flight of stairs to the top. He followed.

Once they were safely at the wall, she said, "Alright. What is it?"

"Iwagakure. You said that you and other analysts think they have someone new in power? Some sort of strategist."

"Not necessarily a tactician, but someone is in charge there that definitely knows what they're doing. They're making strange moves. It's almost as if they're preparing to do something."

"Invade?"

"Maybe so. There's no proof yet. But I have dispatched a team of ANBU to investigate the Raifunkakou Mountains. With any luck, they'll find something critical to understanding what's going on."

"I see. But in the meantime…I agree with you that someone there is devising new tactics. But I think that…all we have to do to avoid a hostile situation with such a person…might be…to kill them."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm requesting a mission. I want to go to Iwagakure. I'll find this guy, and I'll kill him."

"Shikamaru…that's insanely dangerous, not to mention out of your expertise. You're no assassin."

"I know what I'm doing. And I know what I'm _going_ to do. I can guarantee you his death, no question about it."

"How?"

"That's a matter for me to figure out. Just let me go, and I promise you, it'll be done."

"I don't get it, Shikamaru, what's gotten into you? You're usually hesitant to take a B-ranked mission, and yet now you're _asking_ for an S-Class mission? There's something that's not right. There's something you're not telling me."

"This situation has to be taken care of, Godaime-sama. And I'm the only one who knows how to do it. That's all I'm willing to say."

"That is, no doubt, suspicious of you. How can I trust that you'll manage to succeed and not get killed? We need you here. What if something unexpected happens to you? Not only will you be dead, we'll be losing a valuable tactician who can _rival_ Stone's tactician, and I'll be blamed for letting you try to do something you're not capable of. You can challenge him from here. Use the border guard…challenge him to a game of shogi! But don't consider something so random and dangerous as an assassination. You don't even know the name and face of the person you're going after!"

_Ah, but that's all I need, isn't it?_

Beside him, Ryuk chuckled, now understanding what was going on.

"I'm telling you, Tsunade-sama. This is the only way it can be done. I know my plan…I know my weapon…All I need is to go there and gather more information. Once I figure out who my target is, I'll kill him and get out of there."

"And what assassination experience do you have? What assassination _skills_ do you have? You're too inexperienced in that field! What if you mess up, and he lives, or you get caught? We'll enrage Iwagakure and then we'll probably have war of some sort, which is exactly what you're trying to prevent!"

"And what about the ANBU? What if _they_ get caught? Then we'll _still_ enrage Iwagakure. You're taking the risk already, why not give me this chance? _I'm_ the only one who can figure out who this guy is simply by observing, only _I_ can do this!"

Tsunade sighed in irritation.

"Look, Shikamaru, I just can't let you do this. I don't know what's gotten into you, but this kind of thing is way over your head."

Shikamaru stared at her, straight at her eyes, with no fear in his own.

"I've been thinking this out a lot lately. Planning, strategizing, preparing… I've already thought it through completely. Don't forget who I am. I already considered fighting him from here, and I've come up blank. His work is too vague right now, if I try to pull anything they'll figure it out, and we'll have skirmishes on our hands already. And by the time they do something we can react to, it could already be too late."

"What I'm saying is that this is the only path with which to completely avoid trouble. I know how to do it. My method won't fail. It's foolproof, I have no doubt. I can't tell you what it is…but I guarantee to you it'll work. Just…trust me."

"You…seem to feel very strongly about this." She said. "I don't exactly get what's going on with you. But if you really believe this is the only course of action… Very well. You can go. But I'm sending an ANBU with you."

"No! Send me alone. I have to be alone to do this, it's too dangerous. Send me in secret if you like, just don't send anyone with me."

Her eyes narrowed for a second. "Why? What's too dangerous for an ANBU, but not for you?"

"It'll be hard to keep contact there…and if something happens to me, we don't want a Konoha ANBU coming to my rescue, it'll only make things worse."

"Fine. You'll go alone then. _And_ you'll go in secret. No one is to know your objective or your destination. Make up a mission if you want."

"Alright. If that's it then…I'm going home."

Tsunade nodded, and they made their descent down from the wall.

When he arrived home, Shikamaru turned to Ryuk.

"Well? Do you get it now?"

"You want to take out that tactician, but you don't know his name nor his face, and therefore cannot kill him. You've already tried guessing, but it didn't work. So you're only choice…is to go there and find him."

Shikamaru found the Death Note in its hiding place and opened it, reading across the most recent names. Five top Stone shinobi, all of whom could've been candidates for the tactician's position. Unfortunately, they were the only names in the Bingo Book.

Nevertheless, it had proven to him that he could not hope to kill the tactician from Konoha. Even with the Death Note, he had no hope but to travel to Iwagakure and figure out just who his target was.

"But I thought you said before that you couldn't kill people in other villages?" Said Ryuk.

"I can't kill people in all the other villages," said Shikamaru. "But I can kill people in one village. That way they'll have no idea who it is, it could be any other village or none. Sure, they'll suspect Konoha, their long-time enemy, but they'll have no proof. And without the Death Note, they won't have any."

Ryuk chuckled. "When do we leave, then?"

"Tonight." Shikamaru answered. "There's no time to waste."

Ryuk continued laughing, even harder now. Something was funny.

_No matter what, I will find you and kill you. That's a promise._

* * *

1: Yes. I've been watching Pirates lately. But I'll have you know the Green Flash is a real phenomenon, it's just not as cool as in the movie!

2: Kenjutsu, I believe is the art of the sword. I'm just going by the knowledge that ken means sword in Japanese. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Author's Note:

Well, the plot of the story, or at least the first Arc, is basically set up. You know, for the most part, what each of the POV characters will be doing. Just a recap for anyone that's lost: Shikamaru is going to Iwagakure to find and kill the tactician, Tenten and her team is investigating the mountains and the rings, Kiba and his team are investigating the rings and Orochimaru's lair, and Hinata is basically there to show what's going in in the village while all that is happening.

Anyway, that, in my opinion, is a perfect place to go back to Loser Uchiha for a while.

I haven't updated Loser Uchiha since September, so I think it deserves a good few chapters before I do anything with this story. I'm planning on doing that very quickly, though, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to this story in a few weeks.

Lastly: Please review! Reviews make me write! A lot faster than usual!

...Okay, maybe that has to do something with an ego. Boost the ego, get faster chapters! Great deal, eh?


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